


The Purple Flame

by Devils_Official



Series: From Which Stars [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Emperor!Keith AU, M/M, Plot With Porn, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 04:48:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 41,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devils_Official/pseuds/Devils_Official
Summary: Keith accidentally lights the flame during the Kral Zera, Lotor acts in his own self interest, and feelings are hard.





	1. Kral Zera

There was no time left for anything but action.

  
With a flying leap, Keith tackled Lotor, the force of the explosion sending them both tumbling down the stairs leading to the Kral Zera.  
He did not have to like Lotor to realize he was their best option, as far as new emperors went.  
And now his life-debt had been repaid. Red flashed behind his eyelids, just the same as above Nax-

He forced himself up. The battle had only just begun, and he had only one maybe-ally on the ground, and Shiro, in the Black Lion.

  
It was not enough; he knew that. This was a war, and sacrifices were made in wars. Pawns died to save the kings.  
He gritted his teeth and drew his blade.

  
He was not going to give up, even when it looked like defeat was inevitable as he fought a Galra commander. She was taller, stronger than he, and she disarmed him, and-

  
Her sword was shot from her hand, and he followed the shot back to its source.

  
Another life-debt paid; the same Galra from the Weblum nodded before turning away.  
He fought with renewed vigor, knocking the commander out or killing her –there was no time to check and make sure.  
Lotor and Sendak continued their fight –disavowed son and favored right hand, both vying for what they thought their right.

  
And then.

  
A guttering torch caught his eye. The fire was purple, but just looking at it filled him with the same sense of purpose piloting his –the Red –Lion did. The same blush of life and fire and focus.

  
He heard Shiro’s voice in his head: “Patience yields focus.”

  
That was never the case for Keith, and before he knew what was happening, he picked the torch up and raced up the stairs, towards…

  
Something greater than himself filled him, like forming Voltron, but somehow _more_ and somehow _less_.

  
Purple fire flared to life before him, and he realized, even as the Archivist spoke, what he had done.

  
“The flame has been lit. Bow before your Emperor!”

  
Everything seemed to grind to a halt at once –the ships exploding in orbit, the fighting below him, Voltron behind him.  
He was not sure who knelt first, and it was only rigid discipline that kept his own knees from buckling.

  
Lotor was the last to kneel, his neck stiff and an unreadable expression on his face.

  
Sendak was nowhere to be seen.

  
He swallowed, sheathed his knife.

  
“This is a mistake,” he began, to the Archivist.

  
The Archivist did not say anything, at first. He studied Keith up and down, for just a moment, then said, “The Kral Zera has been lit. There is no mistake.”


	2. A Modest Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two Bros, Chilling in the Back of the Black Lion, Really Close Together ‘Cause They’re (Probably) Gay

This was not ideal, Lotor decided.

Not in the least.

This was meant to be a final triumph over his father, taking everything he’d held dear –his life, the Black Lion, Sendak, the throne –and instead…

There was no recourse for it now, unless he wanted to make enemies of Voltron, and frankly, they were the only allies he had at the moment.

So he had knelt before Keith, just as he knelt before him now, in the back of the Black Lion.

Keith stared off at nothing, jogging one leg up and down, anxious.

Lotor had used to do that, before he realized it gave away too much.

“My Emperor,” Lotor said, realizing just how bitter the taste was, “I-“

“Keith,” Keith said.

Emperor Keith? How ridiculous. But Lotor was nothing if not proficient at hiding his feelings. “Keith, then,” he said neutrally, “I would like to offer my help, my experience, anything I have to offer.”

Keith fixed him in place with a stare. There was something not quite right about his eyes, but Lotor couldn’t say what, exactly. “Why?”

“I know you prefer the brutal truth,” Lotor said, “so I will be frank. Your tenure as Paladin of the Black Lion was not a resounding success. Your leadership leaves a great deal to be desired, and I doubt you know anything about running an Empire.”

Keith laughed without humor. “You’re right, of course. I know that’s what everyone else was thinking, too. I almost killed us on Thayserix, and if you hadn’t-“

That had been a game, for Lotor, but he could have killed them all, if that had been his aim. That was what Keith meant.

Keith shook his head. “I suppose there’s no way out of this.”

“The Archivist saw you light the flame,” Lotor said. “But there is one way out.” He looked pointedly at the knife at Keith’s waist. A fine Luxite blade, proof positive of his Galra heritage.

Keith unsheathed the blade, and it was all Lotor could do not to flinch, but he managed to steel himself, and Keith only looked at the blade, a little sadly. “I can’t do that,” he said.

And then, his voice stronger, he said, “But you could.” An accusation? A plea?

Lotor scoffed. “I’d never make it out of this Lion alive,” he said. “And the Empire is in no shape to hold another Kral Zera. Not so soon.”

“It’s already falling apart at the seams,” Keith said. “Another Kral Zera couldn’t possibly make it worse.”

“Just as you couldn’t make it worse,” Lotor countered.

“I know you’re planning something.” That was definitely an accusation. “I know you were there to make yourself Emperor. You can’t possibly be happy with the way it turned out.”

“I’m not,” Lotor admitted. Keith valued honesty, and it was refreshing to be so open with someone. “But you are Emperor, and you will be Emperor until the hour of your death. There is no resignation, no abdication, for a Galra Emperor. So, you will rule.

“But you don’t have to rule alone.”

“You want a position of power?” Keith asked.

“I’m hardly the only Galra who will be begging at your feet for a boon,” Lotor said. “I’m just more graceful and sympathetic at it.”

It did not feel much like begging at Keith’s feet, actually; even kneeling, Lotor was almost at eye-level with a seated Keith. Undoubtedly the smallest emperor the Galra had ever had.

“And humble, too,” Keith muttered, a flash of humor sparking in his eyes. “Isn’t there some exception to the Kral Zera? I’m half-Galra, at most. Doesn’t that-?”

“Then why light it?” Lotor asked. “You  _ chose _ to do that. If you had just waited, I would have-“

Keith stilled completely. “I didn’t,” he said. “I was- I was chosen.”

_ That _ shocked Lotor. Every Galra Emperor  _ spoke _ of being chosen, but he had doubted the veracity of those claims. Until now, perhaps. Or maybe Keith, alone, had been chosen, out of all the Emperors that came before him.

“Long ago,” he began, “the Kral Zera was different. Each contender spoke about what they could bring to the Empire, their skills and strengths, and then it was put to a vote. The winner of that vote would ascend the Stairs of Destiny, and legend says that if the Gods did not favor the winner, then he would be struck down, and another would try in his place.”

“So, no violence,” Keith said.

“Practically none,” Lotor agreed.

“Sounds boring,” Keith said, and Lotor grinned.

“So,” Keith continued, more seriously, “you think some Galra God chose me? Why?”

“Who am I to know the will of the Gods?” Lotor replied with a shrug. “Perhaps you were guided up those stairs, and perhaps you weren’t. There are so few full-blooded Galra left that I suppose your blood does not matter. If it had, the Archivist would have said something.”

Keith put his head in his hands and sighed deeply. “I don’t even look Galra,” he said. “No one’s going to believe that I’m the emperor, much less actually follow me.”

“Well,” Lotor began delicately, “there is one way to help secure the legitimacy of a new Emperor.”

He wondered if he had overplayed his hand when Keith looked straight at him and said, flatly, “I’m listening.”


	3. Keep Your Enemies Close Enough to Stab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rumor Comes Out: Does Lotor is Gay? 

Lotor looked like he’d wished he’d swallowed his tongue instead of opening his mouth.

               He spoke anyway. “When the new Emperor does not come from the old Emperor’s line, sometimes an…alliance is forged between the Emperor and the heir of the old Emperor.”

               Keith stood abruptly. He did not care for Lotor kneeling so close to him. The Black Lion’s cargo bay seemed to close in around him uncomfortably.

               Still, there was just enough room for him to pace, back and forth. “You want…” He could feel Lotor’s eyes on his back.

               And he realized… Lotor was no longer a prince, no longer anything. Clever, yes. Smart, yes. Strong, fierce, agile. But he had nothing but his skills and his wits now.

               Was this desperation? He hadn’t even seemed desperate when he had come to them after Naxzela. Smug and self-assured, but not desperate, and that had been only hours after his life had fallen apart.

               “Is this a proposal?” Keith asked.

               “Do you want it to be?” Lotor asked.

               Keith did not turn around to look at him. He did not want to see Lotor’s face, did not want to see him kneeling there, did not want to acknowledge the rush that being called “ _My_ _Emperor_ ” gave him.

               He swallowed. “I already saved your life,” he said. “I don’t owe you this.”

               “That’s not a no,” Lotor said, and then there was a faint rustling, before Lotor was pressed up against his back, his own knife flat against his throat.

               His heart pounded in his ears. Not because of the danger. They both knew Lotor wouldn’t do it; his own skin was too valuable to himself, and Shiro… Shiro had been distant, lately, but he’d make Lotor pay if he did something to Keith.

               “Is it easier, if I threaten you? Then you don’t need to admit that you need someone.”

               Keith reached back and grabbed a fistful of Lotor’s hair, which had him growling.

               “Fine, then,” Lotor said. Keith could practically hear the eye-roll in his voice. “Promise to marry me, or I’ll kill you,” he said theatrically.

               Keith pulled harder, and his other hand came up to Lotor’s wrist. It was incredibly easy to push the knife away, force Lotor to drop it.

               “You and I both know you’ll never be happy until you sit on the throne yourself,” Keith said.

               “I could rule as your equal,” Lotor said. He’d had to bend down somewhat, as he was a good head taller than Keith. “In power if not in title.”

               “It’s the power you want,” Keith said.

               “My father had the title,” Lotor replied, “but he was the witch’s puppet, just as Sendak was.”

               “I won’t be your puppet.”

               “I don’t think anyone could control you. I have seen whole planets burn, the wildfires raging, but even they are easier to master than you.”

               Keith closed his eyes, trying to distract himself from Lotor. His words sounded sincere, like he was in awe of Keith, but surely that couldn’t right. He simply tried to make the best choices with what was presented to him.

               “Promise me that you won’t manipulate me, or any of the other members of my- Of Voltron,” he said. “Promise me that you won’t harm them, or let them be harmed. And promise me that you really do mean to change the Empire for the better.”

               “I promise, I promise, I promise,” Lotor whispered, his mouth so close to Keith’s ear that it sent shivers down his back.

               Keith was about to give his answer when the Black Lion landed. A moment later, Shiro came in.

               Lotor had already stepped back, and Keith bent to pick up his knife.

               Shiro raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing about it. “We’re docked on the flagship,” he said. “The others will be joining us shortly.”

               Keith wondered how he was going to get out of yet another awkward conversation. The one about him leaving Voltron to be with the Blade full time was quite enough, and he really had dodged a bullet after Naxzela.

               “I can show you around,” Lotor offered.

        Shiro looked at Lotor, slightly startled. Keith wondered if this was the first time he’d offered to do something without anything -implied or otherwise -in exchange.

    “We should wait for the others,” Keith said. After all, being Emperor -being a leader -wasn’t about doing whatever he wanted. This wasn’t his shack in the desert; he had others to think of.

    “Of course,” Lotor said.

    Shiro led the way out of the Lion, and Keith hung back enough to speak to Lotor without Shiro hearing.   

    “Don’t say anything about our...alliance,” Keith hissed. “They’re not going to like it.”

    Lotor smiled, one corner of his mouth twisting up wryly. “Oh, I know. I already proposed to Allura, and I really think Lance nearly had an aneurysm.”

    “You already **_what_ **?”

        Lotor shrugged, his smile only growing. “Politics being what they are. Still, I am glad she refused. You are much more my type.”

        Keith felt himself flushing, and he hurried to catch up to Shiro.

           Shiro did not say anything, about Lotor, about the Kral Zera, about the position he’d nearly found them in. And that was fine; Keith did not need to speak to Shiro to have a conversation.

* * *

 

The others were about as happy as Keith had expected they would be, which was to say, hardly at all, although Allura did offer her congratulations before turning a sharp glare on Shiro.

    “I thought we had decided you would not bring Lotor to the Kral Zera.”

    Shiro had the grace to look embarrassed, barely. “It seemed necessary, at the time.”

    She sniffed. “Well. No harm’s come of it, and now we have an ally at the very head of the Galra Empire.” She turned back to Keith, whose mouth went dry.

    “Princess, if I may,” Lotor began.

    Allura cut him off. “And you! I suppose you convinced Shiro to take you to the Kral Zera.”

    “And, as you said, no harm came of it.”

    “But whatever will you do now, that your chance of being the Emperor has been snatched away? Borrow Shiro’s bayard again and take care of the problem?”

    Lotor drew himself up, appeared to think better of whatever he’d planned, and bowed slightly. “You are correct to be suspicious. I fear my motives have largely been suspect, especially of late, but, I do believe, if you allow Keith to vouch for me…?”

    Six pairs of startled eyes turned on Keith. Well, five plus Shiro’s, who really had to at least suspect that something was up.

    “I…” He cleared his throat. “I made him promise that he wouldn’t try anything, and well, you know what they say: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

    “Not so close that they can slit your throat,” Pidge muttered, at the same time Lance blurted, “You made him pinky swear?!”

    Keith crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, he won’t be on the castle ship anymore, and it’s not like he has the resources to actually try anything.”

    “I’m afraid everything was either destroyed or seized when I was declared a traitor. Rebellions require resources, as I’m sure you know, Princess,” Lotor said drily.

    She scoffed, but said, “If I’m being honest, Keith, I was convinced as soon as you said he wouldn’t be on the castle ship anymore. Just be careful.”

    Lance laughed. “Keith sleeps with a knife under his pillow. It’s whoever has to wake him up in the morning who should be worried.”

    Keith glared at Lance, but he was secretly pleased that Lance had resumed his normal bantering. With everything that had changed…

    “Now that that’s settled, I believe I was about to offer to show you Haggar’s laboratory, Princess,” Lotor said. “As you are Alfor’s daughter, I believe it made be of some use to you.”

    “Oh,” she said, a little startled. “I would love to.”

    Keith was not entirely sure she meant it, but it hardly mattered. He was not worried about Allura being alone with Lotor; she still had her bayard.

    “A sentry could show the rest of you around,” Lotor said. “My Emperor, I am sure you would like to view the military capabilities of this ship, as would the rest of Voltron. And rooms can be prepared, if Voltron intends to stay a while.”

“We’ll leave today,” Allura said. “But thank you for your hospitality.”


	4. Undiagnosed Heart Problems and Alcohol Don’t Mix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has seen exactly three movies in his life, and they are: Independence Day, Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. And that’s it. 

Lotor was not alone with Keith again until the castle ship departed. That was to be expected; Voltron did not trust him, and they especially did not trust him with Keith. 

“Now what?” Keith asked. 

“I suppose you should inform the Blade of Marmora what happened, though they probably know already. More than one of their agents have been caught aboard this ship over the years. After that, we begin the long process of assessing which high-ranking Galra will side with you in the impending civil war, and which of those will not betray you at the earliest opportunity. Then we’ll actually have to fight in the civil war, which we will hopefully win, and at some point, you really should learn how to rule.”

“Oh, so we’ll be done by dinner,” Keith said, sarcastically. 

“It’s getting late, and your quarters should be cleared by now,” Lotor said. “You should probably sleep and start fresh in the morning.” Lotor began leading him through the ship’s hallways.

“My quarters?”

“They were originally my father’s, but I doubt he’s actually slept in years. Anyway, I took the liberty of having his things removed.” A little gleefully, truth be told. Perhaps he’d watch as they went through the incinerator. “I’m told the rooms were quite comfortable.”

“And I suppose you’ve never been in them.”

Lotor laughed without humor. “Of course not.”

“Well, I did say I intended to keep you close.”

“You did, My Emperor,” Lotor said. He liked watching the way Keith’s back stiffened when he said those words. He wasn't sure what was going through Keith’s mind, but he was patient. He’d find out.

“And… We are to be married,” Keith said. “I don’t know what that means for the Galra, and I’ve never really...been in a relationship before, but I think…” He trailed off, and Lotor glanced over at him. He’d gone as red as the Lion he’d once piloted.            

But Lotor was patient; there was no need to pry the words from Keith. Lotor knew how difficult it could be to speak truthfully and freely. 

One of the few modifications his father had made, that Lotor had no intention of undoing, was permitting only sentries as staff on the deck that housed his quarters. Sentries, after all, did not think on their own. They could not be bribed or persuaded. They could be hacked, but they did come with built-in kill switches in the event of some...mishap. 

So there was no one else to hear Keith speak, and Lotor wondered if that made it better or worse. 

On one hand, whatever he had to say was clearly personal, and Lotor suspected Keith had trouble dealing with the personal. 

On the other, this conversation would not be happening if other people were around. 

“I think we should probably get to know each other better,” Keith said suddenly, forcefully, stopping in the middle of the hall, turning to face Lotor.

“I...suspect that is a good idea,” Lotor said. “Though I also suspect that I know more about you than you know about me.”

“You’re the one who asked me to let you rule by my side as equals,” Keith reminded him. 

“So I am.”

“And that tells me that you are desperate for whatever power you can get, even if you have to marry me to get it. You’ve probably done a lot worse, too.”

Lotor sniffed. Crossed his arms. Keith was entirely too good at this. “It’s not like it’s going to be a hardship to marry you. To tell you the truth, most Galra would find you unattractive, to put it kindly, but I, on the other hand-” He stopped himself, realizing that he had probably let too much slip. 

“You, on the other hand, what?” Keith demanded. 

Lotor’s blush was invisible against his skin -Galra blood was nearly clear until exposed to air -but he felt the warmth of it, radiating from him like the heat of a thousand suns. He swallowed. 

“My father would call it a weakness of my blood, that I find you to be...handsome.”

Keith’s mouth twitched, into an almost-smile. “Handsome, huh?” And then he grinned fully. “And I suppose other Galra do not find you as pretty as I do.”

Every word Lotor knew vanished from his tongue. Pretty? His claws dug into his palms, because he did not know what to do with this startling revelation. 

Keith continued down the hall, as if he was not the cause of the sudden onset of some sort of major cardiac malady, and Lotor could do nothing but follow along mutely. 

One thing was for sure: he’d get back at Keith for that. 

* * *

 

Which he did, after dinner. The food had been quite excellent; he’d gotten rather tired of the castle ship’s “food goo”, and anything was surely better than that. 

Keith ate like it was the best thing he’d ever tasted, which was possibly true; few people had access to the Emperor’s private and very fine rations. 

“The food will be even better, when we visit the worlds at the center of the Galra Empire,” Lotor said. “Fresher, more variety.” 

“I can’t imagine anything tasting better than this,” Keith said, “but don”t tell Hunk I said that.”

“As my Emperor commands.” 

After the dishes were cleared away, Lotor had Keith sit on the plush rug, where he joined him with a bottle of liquor. 

“This,” he said, holding the bottle up, “is a beverage made from the fermented fruit and resin of a certain plant,  native to Daibazaal but now cultivated widely across the Empire.”

“Well,” Keith said, “I wasn’t going to drink ten thousand year old liquor.” Then he frowned. “That’s not nunvil, is it?”

“I wouldn’t subject you to that,” Lotor said. “Try a sip, but go slowly. It’s very strong.”

Keith took a sip, and almost coughed it up. “You weren’t kidding,” he said hoarsely. 

“You wanted us to get to know each other better,” Lotor said, “so we’re going to play a game. The rules are very simple: one person asks a question, and the other drinks and then answers as honestly as they can.”   
“You just want to get me drunk,” Keith said, already a little red in the face. “This is just...drunk Truth or Dare.”

“Without the dares,” Lotor pointed out. He had never heard of “Truth or Dare”, but he supposed it was fairly self-explanatory. “You can start.”

Keith passed him the bottle. “What did you show Allura in Haggar’s lab?”

An easy question, to start. He suspected that the difficult questions would come later, when they were both drunk enough for them. He drank. “Haggar had some of my mother’s things, including information about Oriande, which is an… Altean folktale? But she suspected that it was real, and she was trying to find its location. I gave Allura the information in the hopes that it might help her trust me a little more. She’ll be able to learn Altean alchemy there.”

“Like Atlantis,” Keith said sagely. 

Lotor had no idea who or what that was, so he just nodded. He wasn’t going to waste a question on it. He passed the bottle, and Keith drank. “Which of your parents was Galra?”

“My mother. I guess. She left when I was really young. I don’t remember her.” Then he passed the bottle back. “If we’re asking difficult questions, why were you exiled?”

A difficult question indeed. “I disobeyed my father one too many times. I was young, and I thought I could change his mind about things.” 

“That’s it?” An extra question, but he’d allow it. 

Lotor shrugged. “More or less. I don’t like to think of it much.” Thinking of it brought back memories of the komar the witch had performed, while he was made to watch. It brought back memories of the lash coming down, of his tears and screams. He took another drink and passed it back. “Why’d you leave Voltron?”

Keith took his time taking a drink from the bottle. “They didn’t need me anymore,” he said finally. “It was just a matter of time before they kicked me out, like everyone else. So I left before they could. And the Blade did need me, so…”

Keith was, apparently, drunk enough that he was letting things slip that he hadn’t meant to. Which was the point of the game. Lotor would just have to wait a round before he could ask Keith what he meant by “everyone else.” 

“How’d you get Shiro to lend you his bayard?” Keith asked.

“I didn’t. He just gave it to me. Pressed it into my hand when the others weren’t looking. I figured he had some sort of plan, so I just went with it. And it gave me the opportunity to kill my father.” 

“It’s just weird,” Keith said, like he was on the verge of a drunk revelation. “How long does this game go on, anyway?”

“Until the bottle’s empty or until someone passes out.”

Keith nodded and took the bottle. “Shoot.”

Lotor was pleasantly warm by this point, and the lights looked a lot prettier. So did Keith, for that matter. What was the question he’d wanted to ask? “What did you mean when you said that everyone kicked you out?”

Keith drank, a long sip. A very difficult question, then. “It’s just… Everyone leaves, you know? My mom left, my dad left, Shiro left, I got kicked out of Galaxy Garrison, Shiro left again… Lance almost left once. So why let people leave you when you can leave before you get attached? Then it doesn’t hurt as much.”

“Lance means a lot to you.”

Keith glared at him. “That wasn’t a question.”

“It was not. Just a statement of fact.” He wondered if he should be jealous. “I won’t leave you.”

Keith took another swig. “You need me. As soon as you don’t, you’ll leave, too.”

“I won’t,” Lotor promised, more forcefully. 


	5. Space Skype

Keith woke up with a pounding headache and a deep hatred of alcohol. 

Though, unlike what he’d been told, he could remember the events of last night with perfect clarity. Every single truthful word he’d said, that Lotor, of all people had heard. 

God, he’d said things to Lotor he wouldn’t have told  _ Shiro _ . 

He squinted against the brightness of the room and sat up. 

He was still fully dressed, sans boots, which was a good thing, with Lotor sprawled across the other side of the bed, face-down, a little like a starfish, if starfishes had majestic bedhead. 

Lotor was also, thankfully, dressed. 

A triple-tone chime came from the bedside table, and Keith realized that was why he’d woken up. It was the communicator Pidge had made him, so he could stay in touch with the team, and so they could stay in touch with him. 

He ran his fingers through his hair, attempting to tame it somewhat, before answering. 

It was Lance. 

Naturally. 

“What do you want?” Keith asked, and even he realized his voice was raw. 

“Good morning to you, too,” Lance said, with a smug grin. “Looks like you had fun last night.”

“Can you please keep your voice down?” And then he looked at the screen of the communicator. “Why are you in the Red Lion?”

Lance shrugged. “It’s the only place I was sure I wouldn’t be interrupted.”

Well, that was certainly true. Pidge could, realistically, be just about anywhere, thanks to the castle’s ventilation system. And you’d never know until it was too late. 

God, why hadn’t they killed Sendak when they’d had the chance? 

“I’m assuming this isn’t just a casual chat,” Keith said. 

Lance’s ever-present smile faded. It was like the sun had set, leaving the world dark and cold. “It’s about Shiro.”

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked, urgently, looking for his boots. “Is he hurt? I can be there in-”

“It’s not that,” Lance said, and Keith let out a breath. “He’s just been… Have you noticed him acting strangely?” 

Keith bit his lip. “War...changes people. Shiro’s been through a lot.”

“He wasn’t like this before he disappeared after fighting Zarkon.” 

And that was true. The strange headaches were especially concerning, but there were other things too. Individually, they didn’t mean anything. Taken together, though…

“And I haven’t been around much,” Keith said, trying to keep the guilt out of his voice. At the way Lance’s face softened, he knew he’d failed. 

“Look, Keith, you’ve been doing really important stuff. Yeah, we’ve missed you, and we’d love to have you back, but we understand why you left.” Lance sighed. “Anyway, Shiro’s never yelled at you, right?”

Certainly not since before he returned to Voltron. He’d come close, just before Keith decided to leave, but… “No.”

Lance looked away. “Well, he yelled at me. And yeah, I guess I was being annoying, but… It was about the Kral Zera. He wanted to put us all in danger, on the chance that maybe Lotor could become Emperor. Without any recon, and apparently without consulting the Blade, and I just-”

“He wanted to do  **_what_ ** ?” Keith asked, before remembering he really didn’t want to wake Lotor up. He tried again, more quietly. “It sounds like you were right to question him, Lance.”

Lance shrugged. “He went anyway. And he loaned his bayard to Lotor, and he’s just been.... I don’t know, Lotor’s Number One Fan, it seems like. He’s even argued with Allura over him.”

Keith couldn’t  imagine Shiro  _ arguing  _ with anyone, over anything, especially not Allura. “That’s… Have you tried talking to him?”

“I don’t know what to say! ‘Hey Teamleader, you’ve been a real dick since you came back, and I’d like it if you stopped.’ Maybe it’s nothing. Hell, I might be imagining things. Maybe you were right, and the war’s just gotten to Shiro.” Lance glanced away from the screen, presumably to another on the Red Lion’s console. “I have to go; Allura’s getting a transmission from Kolivan. But we’ll talk about this again later, right?”

“Of course.” 

The line went dead, and Keith set the communicator back down. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard: “Lights, off.”

  
“How long have you been awake?” Keith asked accusingly, in the newly-darkened room. The emergency lights running along the floors did not reveal much.

“You woke me up,” Lotor said, his voice muffled by the pillow he’d buried his face in. “But it seemed rude to interrupt your conversation.”

“And it wasn’t rude to eavesdrop!?”

“Please, Keith, I’m busy regretting every decision that led me here. Could you keep your voice down?”

Keith’s headache was almost completely gone by this point, and he had no trouble saying, “Lights, fifty percent.”

Lotor hissed as the lights came back up. 

“It’s your own fault,” Keith informed him. “You’re the one who wanted to play that game.”

“I regret it deeply. Let me suffer in peace.” 

Keith huffed a laugh at Lotor’s dramatics, and went to shower in the attached bathroom. 

* * *

 

He found Lotor eating breakfast after he’d dressed, while looking over data on a device of some kind. He’d managed to untangle his hair, mostly, but he still looked a little worse for wear. 

Keith sat down across from him. “I don’t know where to start.”

“I would suggest the pastries. They’re still warm.”

  
Keith glared. “I meant, with the Empire.”

“Ah.” Lotor yawned, almost exactly like a cat, his fangs flashing. “You should probably pardon me. You wouldn’t want an attainted traitor at your side during this fraught time. And then we have a wedding to plan. I was thinking a simple ceremony, but we’ll need to televise it. For the propaganda. The Galra of the core worlds should side with you almost immediately, and that will give you a vast pool of resources to draw from while we fight any remaining rebels. Galra rebels, that is.” 

Seemed reasonable, but… He knew many of Lotor’s darkest secrets now, but he still didn’t quite…  

Lotor noticed his hesitation. “You still don’t trust me? That’s fine. When we marry, you will have control over all of my property and my person, if you wish. Such is the price of marrying an Emperor.”

“I wouldn’t ask that of you, or anyone!” Keith said, a little shocked and somewhat sick to his stomach. 

“Others have. Remember, this is a culture that still condones slavery, though it was wiped out from most of the rest of the universe long ago.” 

“Then that’s the first thing I’m going to do,” Keith decided. “I have that power, right?”

“You do. It will not make you popular, in some circles. The arenas are a major form of entertainment.”

“But what do you think?”

Lotor looked briefly surprised. “Me? I think slavery betrays the barbarism of the Galra species, and I think that pursuing universal manumission is a noble cause. It has been a long time since the Galra have had a truly noble Emperor.”

“Then I don’t care what anyone else thinks,” Keith said. “And I do trust you, and if you’re only marrying me so that I’ll trust you, then you don’t have to. I wouldn’t want you to.”

Lotor bowed his head graciously. “Very well. In that case, finish your breakfast. I’m going to shower, and then we’ll begin the real work.” 


	6. The Gay Shit Continues

Lotor stood behind and to one side of Keith, who was studying the holographic map of the known universe. 

“Are you sure these fleet locations are accurate?” Keith asked. “I want to make sure that the data Shiro downloaded into the castle’s system is accurate.”

“These are last-known locations, Sire,” the bridge commander said. Lotor couldn’t remember his name at the moment, but it would come back to him eventually. “But some of the ships have not made contact in some time, and the locations are triangulated based on the transmissions.”

Keith nodded. “Attempt to make contact, then.”

“Sire?”

“Anyone who doesn’t probably can’t be trusted. Is there some other way to track ships, other than  triangulation?” He glanced at Lotor.

“They’ll have to resupply at some point. They could do that one of three ways: stopping at a supply depot, piracy, or by stopping on a planet. We’ll watch for missing cargo ships, as well as distress beacons.”

“Given the choice, will the soldiers at the depots and the citizens of these planets side with me, or with possible traitors?”

“Depends. The soldiers will follow their commanders. Some will be against you, some not. Civilians of occupied planets will side with you; my father was not well-loved.”

Keith frowned thoughtfully. 

The bridge commander spoke up. “Sire, Commanders Trugg and Ladnok were last seen in this sector.” He pointed at the map. “I believe they are converging on Warlord Ranveig’s territory.”

“Then they’re after Ranveig’s supposed weapon,” Lotor said. It was his quintessence that Ranveig had stolen, and he still wasn’t happy about it. 

Keith’s frown deepened. “Supposed weapon?”

“There have been rumors,” the bridge commander said. “Some weapon that will turn the tide of the war, apparently. No one’s seen it.” He lowered his voice. “Not even the druids.”

“I’ll check with my contacts,” Keith said absently. “In the meantime, contact the other commanders. See if they’re willing to work with me.”

The bridge commander cleared his throat. “And what about Haggar, Sire? And Commander Sendak?”

“If Haggar or any of her agents come within range of the fleet, shoot them down immediately,” Lotor said coldly. Those bridges had been burned. He might have been willing to ally himself with Sendak, once. No more. 

“Agreed,” Keith said. 

Lotor knew it was not something Voltron would have done, but Keith was more decisive, more direct. There was no reasoning with the witch, and they both knew it. 

“Transmit the updated fleet locations to the castle ship when you have them,” Keith said, then turned on his heel, still deep in thought.

Lotor followed him into the hallway outside the bridge. “My Emperor?”

“I just realized,” Keith said, “if the civil war doesn’t drag out, then the war will be over soon. The galaxy could be peaceful for the first time in ten thousand years. And then what?”

“Trugg and Ladnok will destroy each other,” Lotor said. “We won’t have to fight them. The real threat is Haggar. Once we’ve dealt with her, then there’s still a lot to do. You won’t be sitting idle, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Keith shook his head. “No, it’s just… I thought it would be over once we killed Zarkon. And it’s not.”

Lotor didn’t know what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything. 

“I’m going to send a message to Kolivan,” Keith said finally. “He probably has an agent somewhere in Ranveig’s territory, so he might know something.”

“It might be too dangerous the transmit that information to the Blade’s base, even if he does have an agent there. I don’t remember anyone joining Ranveig in… twenty years? Maybe longer.”

“Well, it’s worth a try.” 

Lotor nodded. “The weapon may not be real. All I know for certain is that he stole an unmarked shipment of my quintessence some time ago.”

“Your quintessence?” 

Lotor shrugged. “For my research. I believe it was along a route the Blade did not know about.” He smiled at Keith’s startlement. “I know someone was keeping tabs on me. I assumed it was the witch at first, but then I realized that she would not have merely tracked the routes. And I was right.” He pushed away the rest of that line of thinking. 

“You dropped off the face of the universe for several months. Kolivan wanted to know where you were and what you were doing.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lotor said. “All of my research was destroyed or seized.” And it hadn’t worked, anyway. “I want to show you something,” he said suddenly. He knew Keith was an excellent pilot, bold and fearless. He led Keith to the hangar where his ship was.

Keith crossed his arms and looked up at it. “It looks…”

“Regardless of how it looks,” Lotor said, “it is an elegant, maneuverable ship, made of the strongest material known to this universe, and has the most powerful energy weapon for its size of all the fleet’s ships.”

“That’s how you took down the shield on Haggar’s ship.” Keith closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath. “Can I take it out for a spin?”

“That’s why I brought you here. The hatch opens like that...do you need a leg up?”

Keith did not. “You’re coming too, right?”

“Of course.” He’d never had the chance to experience Keith’s flying first-hand, and this ship was nearly indestructible. 

Keith settled into his chair. “This is what you made with the trans-reality comet.” Not a question.

“There’s another ship out there somewhere,” Lotor admitted. “And there was ore leftover. I was planning on constructing another ship,  but I never got the chance.” 

“This is the same stuff the Lions are made of,” Keith said. Again, not a question. 

“I managed to procure some of Alfor’s notes regarding building the Lions,” Lotor said. “So I designed the ships to function similarly. You should have no trouble flying it.”

And he didn’t. They nearly got shot on their way out of the hangar because Keith didn’t know control tower protocol, but the ship was, like Lotor had said, extremely maneuverable, and once Lotor commed the tower, it was sorted out quickly. 

And then they were in open space.

“How fast does this go?” Keith asked.

He sounded genuinely happy, and Lotor would bet the rest of the ore that he was grinning from ear-to-ear.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I’ve never pushed it that hard.”

If Lotor had had a weak stomach, he would not have enjoyed flying with Keith. He wasn't reckless -every trick was performed perfectly -but he was... _ exuberant _ .  

As it was, Lotor wondered if he should install more safety features. 

But Keith was  _ laughing  _ so Lotor stopped worrying about it. Maybe it was...a weakness, to regard Keith’s laugh as the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard, but… He’d give just about anything to hear it again.

Finally, they did have to go back to flagship. 

Keith threw his arms around him as soon as they were both back on the deck of the hangar. 

Lotor froze.

“Thank you,” Keith said earnestly. “I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun.”

A sentiment Lotor agreed with. “It’s yours,” he said impulsively. “The ship. It’s a gift.”

Keith stepped back. “I...can’t.”

“Of course you can. The rest of the ore is in the cargo hold. I can build another.” He paused. “Consider it an early wedding gift.”

“I don’t have anything to give you,” Keith said.

“You already know what I want,” Lotor said. 

“I-” Keith looked at the ship again. “Alright. I’ll take it. But it seats two, so I expect you to fly with me sometimes.”

“I think I can do that.” And then, on the same impulse, he leaned down and kissed Keith, square on the mouth.

Keith froze and Lotor pulled away. Blood rushed to his face, and he couldn’t look at Keith. “I- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Keith didn’t answer. Not verbally, anyway. Instead, he reached up and pulled Lotor down, and kissed him.

It was not a very good kiss. Keith was clearly inexperienced -he’d said as much before -but it was still the best kiss of Lotor’s life. 

Maybe it was because he wasn’t kissing someone just to gain favor with them. He wasn’t using Keith, the way he’d used others. 

Keith pulled away finally, visibly flushed. “Thank you,” he said, a little breathlessly, “for the ship. And for everything else.”


	7. Nothing But Respect for My Emperor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith discovers he’s a kinky bitch

Keith exited the conference room muttering under his breath. Who knew all Galra were this stubborn? 

Maybe he should have expected it, based on his own personality, but really, this was…

“You did great in there,” Lotor said. 

“I didn’t convince them of a damn thing,” Keith said.

“Convincing them is not your job. You’re the emperor. Stop fighting with them and tell them. The commanders will respond to a firm hand.”

“It feels wrong to order people to do something.”

“They’re not your friends. Remember, Keith, out of all the Galra on Feyiv,  _ you  _ are the one who lit the flame. You were the only one strong enough to do it. Remind them of that. They won’t respect you until you do.”

They were back on the Emperor’s private deck when Lotor suddenly pushed him up against a wall.

Keith had discovered that he liked how easy it was for Lotor to manhandle him. “What are you doing?”

“Showing you just how much I already respect you,” Lotor said playfully, as he sank to his knees in front of Keith.

Keith had a pretty good idea where this was going, but… “Really, here?”

Lotor grinned. “As long as you don’t make too much noise, the sentries won’t investigate. And we can always wipe their memory afterwards, if need be.”

And well… Logically, Keith knew that no one was going to catch them, and if they did, so what? He was the Emperor. But it still made his breath quicken to think about. He nodded, giving Lotor permission to continue.

One of Lotor’s hands pinned his hips to the wall, and the other made quick work of undoing his pants and pulling them down just far enough for Lotor to take hold of Keith’s dick.

Which he did, very gently. “It is sensitive, I assume?” Lotor asked, making eye contact with Keith.

“Very.” The blood that wasn’t rushing straight for Keith’s dick was rushing to his face. He had very little in the way of sexual experience, and already it was…

Lotor hummed thoughtfully, then licked a thin stripe up the underside of Keith’s cock. 

Keith could not stop his hands from grabbing Lotor’s hair. He would have felt bad, except that Lotor make an appreciative noise and then swallowed Keith’s dick. 

Keith suspected that Lotor had done this before. Obviously not on a human, but maybe Galra dicks were similar in both form and function? Because Lotor really seemed to know what he was doing, setting a very steady rhythm and alternating between swallowing Keith’s dick whole and pulling back to suck and lick the tip alone. 

He was using both hands to keep Keith still now, prevent Keith from thrusting forward like he desperately wanted to.  

Even Keith’s hands in his hair couldn’t make Lotor move any faster than he was going. He could feel his orgasm building, but it was  _ just  _ out of reach and he only needed a  _ little  _ more…

Lotor chuckled around his dick, which nearly did it, until Keith realized the reason he was laughing was because Keith had started growling in frustration. He tugged Lotor’s hair in retaliation. 

Lotor growled in return, which also felt amazing, and then he swallowed a final time.

His orgasm hit him like a freight train, and he came down Lotor’s throat. 

Lotor swallowed demurely, then pulled off. 

He caught Keith’s eye and licked his lips, and honestly, if Keith hadn’t just come fifteen seconds earlier, he would have been hard again. If he’d been five years younger, he could have done it. 

“That was…” It was hard, thinking of words when one’s brain had just been sucked out through one’s dick. 

“Fun,” Lotor said, his voice only slightly rough. He helpfully tucked Keith’s dick back in his pants, then stood. He pressed his lips to Keith’s, and then his tongue pressed in, and Keith thought he would have had a problem with the fact that Lotor had just sucked his dick with that mouth, but he really didn’t. 

And then he remembered. “Oh my god! You have fangs. You could have bitten my dick off!”

Lotor crossed his arms. “I should have too. I’m going to go bald at this rate. Did you have to pull so hard?” 

“It’s not like there was anything else for me to hold onto!”

“Then next time,” Lotor said lightly, “I’m going to tie you up.”

“Holy shit,” Keith said, because he didn’t think he could get hard again so quickly, but here he was, already straining against his zipper.

Lotor caressed the bulge in Keith’s pants. “Does this mean you like that idea, My Emperor?”

Keith was so fucked. 


	8. Keith Gets Fucked (Literally, Figuratively, Spiritually...)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m not kidding; this is 90% porn, 10% Lotor being a Huge Nerd. Also, the continuing implication that Lotor will fuck his way into messes, and he’ll fuck his way out of them. 

Lotor lifted Keith up quite easily. Keith was so small and seemingly fragile. Obviously he wasn’t; how much had he survived at this point? 

But it was easy to think that Keith, because he was so small, in comparison to other Galra, in comparison to Lotor himself, was fragile, weak, breakable. 

Certainly, if they were attacked right this second, Keith was in no position to defend himself. Not with his bones turned the consistency of food goo, unable to stand on his own two legs. 

Though that did do something for Lotor’s ego, not that it needed a boost. If he was going to be the only person who believed in him, he was going to do it well. 

“We’re done for today,” Lotor said, finally, when Keith could offer no response to his question. “No more meetings, no more audiences.”

“Does this count as an audience?” Keith asked, his eyes sparkling and his face flushed. Cheeky. 

“Then what favor should I ask of you?” 

“I could...ah, reciprocate…” If possible, Keith flushed redder at that. 

A lovely image that sent a flash of heat and want through him, but Lotor swallowed the impulse to give in. “I want to fuck you,” he said instead, low and deep.

Keith’s breath caught. “Yeah?”

“I have for a while,” Lotor admitted. “Since the Kral Zera.” Already more than a week ago. “If I can’t be an emperor, I might as well fuck one.” It was difficult to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but he managed well enough.

Keith’s arms around his neck tightened, pushing their mouths together. Keith kissed like he did everything: fiercely, decisively, boldly, and while Lotor did like his style, he had no intention of fucking Keith in the hallway.

Blowing Keith was one thing, but he wanted at least a chair if he was going to fuck someone. Preferably a bed, but he wasn’t picky. 

So Lotor broke the kiss. “Can I fuck you?” Keith hadn’t really given him an answer, and this was the sort of thing Lotor liked as little ambiguity as possible. 

“Please,” Keith said, his voice an absolute wreck. 

Well, it didn’t get clearer than that. Lotor carried Keith down the hall to their quarters, heroically avoiding Keith’s attempts at distracting him. 

Once the door was closed, he pressed Keith up against it and sank his fangs into the soft skin under Keith’s jaw. Keith made the most beautiful noise as he tilted his head back to allow Lotor unimpeded access. 

He did not bite down hard enough to break skin, but Lotor had seen bruises on humans before; he wanted to see these ones up close, knowing that he had put them there. 

Finally, he pulled away. “That,” he said softly, firmly, “was for distracting me.”

Keith huffed impatiently. “I thought you were gonna fuck me? Why are you taking so long?”

Still so fiesty. 

Lotor narrowed his eyes, then picked Keith up and put him over one shoulder. Keith squawked indignantly; Lotor stifled his laugh.

But he set Keith down terribly gently on the bed when he got there, laying him out with such care. Lotor could not remember the last time he’d had sex simply because he wanted to (maybe never?), and it felt like such a monumental thing. 

He didn’t say that to Keith, because he didn’t want Keith to shoulder that burden. His feelings were his own responsibility. Not Keith’s. 

Keith had enough problems; he didn’t need Lotor’s.

He undressed Keith with the same gentle care. He knew Keith could tell he was staring, but well… He was curious, and this was such a novel experience for him. Perhaps for both of them.

Keith was pale all over. No fur, other than a few (oddly placed) patches of dark hair. Lean; Keith was all muscle, but not bulky with it. A few scars, some old and pale, some newer and pink. 

Lotor pressed a kiss just below Keith’s navel, and Keith shuddered out a breath. 

“Aren’t- Aren’t you going to…? It’s unfair if only I’m naked,” Keith said.

Lotor smiled and stood. “As My Emperor commands.” He stripped off armor and flightsuit with the same efficiency he always used; there was no point prolonging that, even if he could feel Keith’s eyes on him. 

He did not turn his back to Keith, though; it was always easier to face what was coming. 

Keith’s eyes widened as they fell below Lotor’s waist. 

Lotor would not say he was particularly well-endowed, especially for a Galra. He was merely...proportionate. And as he was significantly larger than Keith… Well.

Keith swallowed audibly. 

“Do you still want to continue?” Lotor asked playfully. A challenge, one he knew Keith would not -could not -refuse.

Keith’s eyes snapped back up. “Of course.” 

It was no secret on the flagship that they shared quarters. After all, they were to be married, and it had always been rumored that Lotor was more than willing to fuck his way up the ranks. Doubtlessly, it had only added to those rumors when Lotor had ordered that these quarters be well and completely stocked with whatever personal and hygienic items they might need. 

So he only had to reach into the bedside table to find an unopened bottle of a particular oil that was...highly regarded among some communities.

“This is the oil of a particular tree cultivated widely across the universe, used in both industrial and medical applications,” Lotor explained.

“It’s lube,” Keith said. 

It certainly was. 

“Is that why it’s so widely cultivated?” Keith asked, pushing himself up on his elbows. 

“Well, the fruit of the tree is edible,” Lotor said, “but it tastes the way wet Galra smells. I can only assume that the people who first began propagating this tree had an interest in having a great deal of sex without chafing.”

“It’s preferable to the alternative.”

Lotor, who had gone through puberty, could only agree. He nodded, and broke the seal on the bottle. “The oil, unlike the fruit, had a pleasant scent and taste.”

Keith’s eyebrows rose. “It’s edible?”

“I can have this discussion with you later,” Lotor said, beginning to get a little impatient. He really wanted to touch Keith, watch him writhe on his fingers…

“You’re the one who felt he had to explain to me what lube is,” Keith pointed out. 

Lotor nipped at the crest of Keith’s hip. “Do you want me to prepare you, or would you rather do it yourself?” Lotor was rather impartial; the idea of Keith fingering himself open while Lotor watched was a pretty good one. If they didn’t do that today, they’d have to some other time. 

Keith spread his legs a little. “You do it.”

Lotor obliged, starting with one finger; he was impatient but not foolish. “Relax,” he murmured against Keith’s thigh. “I know what I’m doing.”

Keith huffed a laugh. “Always so confident in yourself, aren’t you?”

Lotor crooked his finger just so, and Keith jolted half-upright.

“Been a while?” Lotor asked, before nipping Keith’s thigh. Keith had very lovely thighs: long, lean, but also firm with muscle. 

Keith glared halfheartedly. “Do that again,” he demanded.

And Lotor did, then added another finger. In short order, Keith was writhing and cursing  _ -such a filthy mouth _ -and Lotor felt he was ready for a third and final finger. 

Keith whined as Lotor pulled his fingers free, and Lotor seriously though Keith might tackle him then and there.

But Keith stayed put. “Well?”

“How do you want it, My Emperor?” Lotor asked, before licking a long stripe up Keith’s cock.

“Fuck,” Keith panted. “Just... Just fuck me already. You’re the one who’s been imagining this.”

A thousand different fantasies, some of which were anatomically impossible. Some of the others would require a change of venue, and frankly, Lotor was not leaving this bed until he’d made a mess of Keith. 

He sat back on his heels and hauled Keith into his lap. Keith’s flush always brightened when he manhandled him, so it seemed Keith enjoyed it as much as he did. It was such a rare thing for Lotor to actually not feel small. Ego only went so far. 

“Galra typically fuck from behind,” Lotor said once he had Keith in his lap, back to chest. “Would that satisfy you?”

“Do you always talk so fucking much?”

Lotor hummed as he positioned his cock against Keith’s entrance. Keith squirmed in his grasp, then screamed silently as Lotor pushed his way in fully, like all the air in his lungs had been pushed out to make room. 

Lotor had never felt more aroused than he was this instant, and he struggled to hold himself still while Keith adjusted. Keith’s squirming did not help matters; even with Lotor’s hands on his hips, he still managed some movement.

One of Keith’s hands came to rest on top of Lotor’s, twining their fingers together. Terribly intimate, perhaps even more intimate that having his cock inside him, Lotor thought. 

“Please,” Keith gasped finally, trying in vain to lift himself up, to grind down, anything. With his legs splayed out in front of them, he had no leverage, though he tried to dig his heels into the mattress; they only slid against the sheets. “Please, please, Lotor,  _ fuck- _ !” 

Lotor was not as cruel as some; others would have made Keith begged longer, more sweetly, but he obliged him, lifting him up and letting gravity do some of the work.

He set a slow, deep rhythm, a rare treat for him. Most Galra like sex rough and fast, and even if he came, it was terribly unsatisfying on some subconscious level.  

Keith, if the sounds coming from deep in his chest were any indication, liked this too. A sweet symphony of growls and moans, something uniquely Keith. 

Keith learned the rhythm rapidly, and he began to meet Lotor’s every thrust; like this, they wouldn’t last long. Not as long as Lotor wanted, anyway, since he wanted this to last forever. 

He bit the nape of Keith’s neck.

“Fuck!” 

“What are you thinking right now?” Lotor asked, genuinely curious. And, also, whatever Keith had to say was sure to be incredibly hot. Even if he couldn’t get out anything coherent. Especially if he couldn't.

“Jesus fucking Christ, I-” Whatever else he had to say was lost to Lotor’s upwards thrust. 

“Let me tell you what I’m thinking, My Emperor,” Lotor began. 

Keith moaned, either at Lotor calling him Emperor - _ Keith thought he didn’t know, but he did -  _ or the ridges of Lotor’s cock catching the rim of his entrance. It was like Keith was deliberating trying to keep him inside, and -

Right. Back to business. “I’ve imagined you on a throne, My Emperor, and I have to admit that it’s not a terribly inspiring image. So small, so fragile…” He dug his fingers into Keith’s hips, surely leaving bruises. “So I think this is a much more appropriate throne for you.” He stroked Keith’s cock once, twice, before trailing his fingers upwards. “Don’t you think?”

“Fuck,” Keith said eloquently. “Yes, Lotor, yes, oh my god-!” He came suddenly, almost violently, every muscle seizing up, which meant he tightened deliciously around Lotor’s cock, and that sent Lotor over the edge, exactly like being pushed off a cliff. 

He bit into the junction of Keith’s shoulder and neck to steady himself.  As it was, he saw white, and it was only through sheer force of will that he stayed remotely upright.

Keith collapsed back against him, whining with each jerk of Lotor’s hips as he finished. 

Lotor could sympathize with Keith’s overstimulation; each of his nerves sparked with such painful pleasure he thought he might sob.

Keith’s hand was still twined with his, clutching Lotor’s hand like it was an anchor. 

Lotor lifted Keith’s slack body out of his lap, then stood, gripping the bedpost when he thought his legs might collapse underneath him; they did not.

He went into the bathroom and came back a moment later with a warm, damp cloth. He wiped Keith down first, and then himself, before collapsing on the bed next to Keith.

Keith had a tiny, satisfied smile gracing his features, and he wasn’t yet asleep.

“How was that?” Lotor asked playfully. 

“Intense. More than I thought it would be,” Keith admitted.

“Well, no human could fuck you like a Galra, could they?” He traced one of the bitemarks he’d left on Keith’s neck. It hadn’t broken the skin, but it would bruise, he thought.

“I wouldn’t know,” Keith said with a yawn. “Never had sex before.”

Lotor propped himself up on an elbow. “Never?” It was hard to imagine; Keith was quite beautiful, and he should have had a whole line of suitors vying for his attention. 

Keith shrugged. “I was not popular on Earth, and once we went into space…” He shrugged again. “Still, I don’t regret this, if that’s what you’re wondering. It was good. Really good.”

“Yeah?” Lotor asked, with a quick grin.

Keith punched him in the shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“But you’d be open to doing this again?” Lotor asked, trying to keep everything but the playfulness out of his voice.

“Not right now,” Keith said. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to walk tomorrow as it is. But yeah, I’d like that. As long as you let me fuck you, too.”

“That can be arranged.” He kissed Keith, slowly and sweetly, combing his fingers through his hair.

Keith nestled against him, and they were both asleep in minutes. 


	9. How Not To Tell Your Friends That You Got That Alien D, or Lance Has An Aneurysm

Keith was getting really tired of being woken up by his communicator. He probably should leave it somewhere other than the bedside table. Maybe put it out the airlock?

He answered.

Lance, of course. 

“Good mor-” he began.

“You’re getting married!?” Lance screeched at the top of his lungs. 

“It’s really fucking early,” Keith complained. “Keep your voice down.”

“You’re marrying  **_Lotor_ ** !?” Same volume, of course, because Lance had two settings: loud and louder. “And you didn’t tell us!?”

Shit, Keith knew he’d forgotten something. He glanced over at Lotor. He looked like he was still asleep. For now. Not many people could sleep through Lance. 

“Um…” Keith said, trying to think of something to say. “Surprise?”

“That’s all you have to say? Allura’s already set a course for you, Mullet, and boy, are you in trouble!”

“It’s not Allura’s business,” Keith grumbled. It wasn’t even  _ Shiro’s  _ business, and he’d known Shiro for years. “And frankly, it’s not your business, either.”

“You had to tell the rest of the universe before you told us, though? How could you! I’ll have you know that Hunk’s practically in tears over it, so you better let him cater the reception.”

Before Keith could say anything, Lotor sat up so that he was in frame. “Good morning, Lance. I’m afraid it was my mistake.”

Lance’s jaw dropped, and he seemed genuinely speechless, which was a first, as far as Keith knew. 

He waited. 

“You ALREADY SLEPT WITH HIM???”

“Jealous?” Lotor asked smugly. Out of frame, he had an arm around Keith’s waist, which was very nice, if a little distracting. 

That only made Lance splutter out sounds, a little like he was having a stroke. 

“Well,” Keith said, “we  _ are  _ getting married.”

“You are literally unbelievable,” Lance said, throwing his hands up. “We’ll be there soon, so make sure you put some clothes on. No one wants to see…that.” He hung up.

“Which of us do you think he meant?” Lotor asked, amused.

“It’s impossible to tell,” Keith answered. “How many years do you think we shocked off his life?”

Lotor laughed. “How are you this morning?”

“Sore,” Keith admitted. “But good. I can’t remember the last time I slept like that.” Insomnia and nightmares were the worst combination, but neither had been a concern last night.

“I know what you mean,” Lotor said. “I wish I could spend all day in bed with you.” 

“Me too. Well, let’s get dressed so we can get this over with.” 

* * *

 

As it turned out, Allura was not actually mad at all. Well, maybe a little. But for the most part, she was using her anger as a cover, because she was very excited about the wedding. 

Apparently, Galra wedding traditions were not completely dissimilar to Altean ones, which was news to Keith. 

Coran was just as bad, but Hunk was worse, once Keith assured him that he could, in fact, cater the reception if he wanted. 

Pidge was not onboard, but then, Pidge had never really like Lotor to start with. 

Thankfully, Keith’s shirt collar was tall enough that it hid all of Lotor’s love-bites, and Lance had apparently not said anything about catching them in bed together, thank God. 

“You are all welcome to stay aboard the flagship until the wedding,” Lotor said finally, “as I’m sure you’d all like to help with the preparations.”

“Thank you,” Allura said. “I think we will. Pidge had some thoughts about fleet finding.”

Keith heaved a sigh of relief as the conversation turned back to saving the universe and away from his personal life. 

Still, he couldn’t escape it entirely, and Hunk managed to corner him later. 

“Is Lotor treating you right?” Hunk asked.

And god, Keith loved Hunk. Loyal, trustworthy, kind, considerate… Hunk was just a genuinely  _ good  _ person and a great friend. But Keith really hated having people in his business. 

“I’m fine, Hunk. I promise.”

“Ok, because Lance was weird this morning after he got off the comms with you, and you know how he tells me  _ everything _ , but he didn’t say anything about that, so I was worried, and with you getting married and all…” Hunk paused. “Holy crow, you’re getting married! As in,  _ married _ , and-” 

“Hunk,” Keith said, “I’m fine. I really am. You know I’d be the first to knife Lotor if he betrayed us.”

Hunk nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess.” 

* * *

 

Keith found Lance in the training room, which annoyed him somewhat because that was  _ his _ quirk, but he let it go. Deep inhale, long exhale.

And then he noticed what Lance was training with: some sort of broadsword, not dissimilar from Lotor’s, really, and…

Was that his bayard? 

He watched Lance until the training sequence ended, studying every movement in case Lance wanted advice. After all, he was getting married and it would be rude to check out other men. Even if, apparently, he had a type.

He cleared his throat when the sequence ended, and Lance jumped.

“You should probably be more aware of your surroundings,” Keith said. “Anyone could have come in here.”

“Isn’t this your private deck?” Lance snarked. “They’d have to get past the sentries first.”

“Well, you know that’s not too hard. You think Pidge is the only one who can fuck with the sentries?” 

“Fair enough. Look, I’ll get out of here if you want to train. I just needed…” Lance shook his head. “It’s not important. I’ll leave.”

“You don’t have to,” Keith said. “I was looking for you.”

Lance deactivated his bayard. “What? Why? I swear that Fun-Bot was Pidge’s idea, and -“

Keith did not want to know what Fun-Bot was, or why Lance was trying to blame Pidge for it. “I’m sorry about this morning.”

Lance shrugged. “You were right. It’s not my business. God knows I’ve tried to get laid more than once by hot alien babes. Guess I just can’t believe  _ you _ succeeded.”

Keith crossed his arms. “What is that supposed to mean?” 

Lance gestured to Keith.

“You just gestured at all of me.”

“Well, that’s why I’m so surprised you actually got laid.”

“Look, I didn’t come here to talk about my sex life,” Keith said. “I wanted to apologize for being kind of a jerk about this morning. And also, now that your bayard can also be a sword, I was wondering if you wanted to spar?”

Lance smiled, that genuine smile that could I get up entire rooms. “Oh. Sure. Be prepared to have your ass handed to you, though.”


	10. It’s “Illegal” and “Rude” To Torture People In Real Life, So I’ll Stick To Fictional Characters

Hours After the Battle of Naxzela

All-in-all, things could be worse. 

These were, perhaps, the nicest accommodations Lotor had ever had as a prisoner. No chains, a full bed with both pillows and blankets? That was practically imperial luxury. 

Gods, he likely would have been given to the druids already if he  _ was  _ an imperial guest. 

He sat in absolute silence for a good fifteen minutes after the Princess and the Black Paladin left. 

He’d already been given food, so it was unlikely anyone would come back for him until morning. All the paladins had looked exhausted  _ (foolish of them to show it),  _ so they’d wait to interrogate him. 

If interrogation it was. They might simply  _ ask  _ questions, which, for the sake of his life, he’d answer. Perhaps it would even be civil. 

There were no corners in the containment cell for him to back into, and he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, he could not cower in some illusion of safety, thus revealing that his position here was more tenuous than he liked. 

On the other, he did not like having people at his back. He could not prevent that here, and he did not have eyes on the back of his head, and no one to watch his back.

He did, once. 

If there was anything to throw, he would have thrown it. He was not prone to outbursts of rage, but it seemed appropriate now. He wanted to rage, to break something, to let his hurt be known, let it bubble over like it had been threatening to  _ for years _ … 

Instead, he wondered where his first mistake had been made.

Killing Narti? No, that had been necessary. He could not let the witch continue to spy on him. This was war, and sacrifices were made in war. If the others did not understand, then that was their problem. They should have had faith in him.

And they did, until he’d failed to enter the Rift. 

Would it have been different, if he had? Where would he be now? 

But there was no point in thinking like that. 

Perhaps his first mistake had been in returning from exile, or being exiled in the first place, or…

Or perhaps even being born. Maybe he was just a victim of circumstance, like so many others, trying and failing to better himself and the world around him. 

It was tempting to blame his failure on someone else. Terribly tempting, but he knew it wasn’t so. Everything had fallen apart, and if he could just figure out what he had done to cause it, then…

Then what? The paladins would have no qualms about killing him if he tried to escape, and he was a wanted traitor in the Empire. Outside the Empire, he might be killed simply for being Zarkon’s son, simply for being Galra… 

Why hadn’t the Rift experiment worked? He’d triple-checked the calculations, reviewed every aspect a dozen times over, designed the damn Sincline himself.

It should have worked.

__ _ It should have worked.  _

__ He sank to the floor, his back against the foot of the bed. He didn’t think it would be quite long enough for his frame, but then, he slept curled up in a ball anyway.

He brought his knees up to his chest, like he’d done often as a child. He felt as helpless now as he had been then. Alone, without allies, powerless. 

Gods, if Axca had  _ just- _

He began crying, without realizing it until his tears ran down his face.

The part of him that also stood apart from his emotions knew, logically, why he was crying: he was overwhelmed, overtired, angry, betrayed, sad, disappointed, hopeless, hurting… a thousand other things he didn’t have the words for. 

There was nothing he could do to stop the tears, now that they had started, only hope that no one caught him in his moment of weakness.

Princes did not cry. 

When it was over, when the only thing he felt was empty, he pulled his boots off, braided his hair with practiced efficiency, crawled onto the bed, and slept. Without dreams, without memories.

And, when they came for him in the morning, it was easier to plaster that insincere, mocking grin across his face and pretend that this had been his plan all along. 

* * *

 

Present:

Lotor stretched, grinning when Keith jumped, his eyes wide in surprise and possibly terror, at the sounds of his joints cracking. 

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” 

“Shoulders,” Lotor said unapologetically. “Old battle wound.” Not a lie. Not the truth, exactly, but not a lie. “Did you know,” he said, changing the subject, “that I have been threatened seven times today?” 

“Stop antagonizing people, then,” Keith said, returning to whatever he was trying to read.

“I have not antagonized a single person today,” Lotor said. “You know that’s upside-down, right?” 

“That explains it,” Keith said dryly, before flipping the tablet over. Then he frowned. “Lotor?”

The easy, playful tone was gone, replaced with something more serious. Maybe something fearful. 

“Yes?” Lotor asked warily. 

“Can you read this for me? I’m not sure I’m getting this right.” Keith handed the tablet over, and Lotor glanced over at his face: pale, drawn. Bad news, then? 

If it was Voltron, they would have used the comm Keith had. An Imperial matter would have been handled from the bridge. So that left…

“It’s from Kolivan,” he said. “About Ranveig’s old territories. Ladnok and Trugg destroyed each other’s forces, and - Kolivan finally managed to get a Blade onto the base.”

Keith nodded. “He mentioned that all communications had been cut off.”

Lotor skimmed down the page. “There were no survivors on the base, and Ranveig’s weapon was gone. The Blade recovered some files from the base’s systems. He -He attached a file.”

“Open it?” Keith asked, like he knew what the file would say, but he didn’t want to believe it. Like he could fool himself into thinking that he’d read it wrong.

Lotor opened the file. “This is a personnel file?” It was brief: a name, a heavily-redacted biography, and a picture. The status at the top read “Killed In Action.” 

The picture… The picture was grainy, low-quality. But the reason Kolivan had sent this was crystal clear as soon as Lotor looked at it. The resemblance was...uncanny, impossible to deny, devastating. 

He didn’t know what to say. “Keith, I am so, so sorry…” 

Keith had that stubborn set to his jaw, the one he’d put on before he argued a policy with a particularly stubborn commander. “So I did read it right.”

Lotor nodded. 

“And the file… You saw the picture?”

Lotor nodded again. 

“That’s my mother,” Keith said, dully. “Kolivan knew where she was the whole fucking time, and he never…” His hands were clenched into fists, and he was trembling. With grief or rage, Lotor didn’t know. Both, perhaps.

Lotor set the tablet aside. He’d grown up knowing that his mother was gone; there had never been a single moment where it was revealed to him, no paradigm shift that had come suddenly and painfully. So he did not know what to do with Keith.

He did not realize Keith was crying until he saw the tracks on Keith’s cheeks, and he made up his mind. 

Lotor pulled Keith to him, which normally would have made Keith stiffen at the unfamiliarity of a friendly touch, but now Keith merely buried his face in Lotor’s shoulder and wept harder. 

This was quickly becoming unfamiliar territory for Lotor as well, but he shoved that aside. His own discomfort had never meant very much, and now it was pretty much worthless. 

He still didn’t know what to say, so he just held Keith and let him cry.

Finally, Keith pulled away. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. 

“Don’t be,” Lotor said. “I understand.” 

Keith nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. 

“If you want to talk to your friends,” Lotor said, “they’ll be onboard until after the wedding.”

Keith frowned. “Aren’t you my friend?”

Lotor, who had never had a friend -his generals had never been his friends, as recent circumstances had proven -also frowned. “Am I?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’d like to think so. Anyway, I don’t- I don’t want to talk to them right now.”

“Ok.” 

“What was her name?” Keith asked suddenly. “ I couldn’t figure it out.”

“Krolia. Your mother’s name was Krolia.” 


	11. How Not to Do Self-Care, a Novel By Keith Kogane

Keith did not tell the others. He didn’t want their pity.

Anyway, for them, nothing had changed. Keith had been without a mother before, and he still was now. The only difference was that he knew now that he would never meet her. 

He would have liked to. He would have liked the opportunity to ask her why she’d abandoned him. 

But he’d lived without the answer to that question for twenty years; he could live the rest of his life not knowing. 

Kolivan might know, but he was... stingy with information. To say the least. 

And at least now he had her name. That was more than he had before. 

Something settled in his chest, like rocks after an avalanche. He was still angry, still hurt, still upset, but his likelihood of lashing out was reduced, if not gone entirely. 

Crying had helped; it always did. He cried every single time someone left him; this was no different. 

He hadn’t liked crying in front of Lotor; Lotor probably never cried. Whatever problems he had, he was in control of them. Then again, he’d had ten thousand years to get his shit together. 

Keith had had twenty. 

He sparred with Lance again after breakfast. He hadn’t eaten much, but he’d be ok. Sparring took his mind off things. You had to be in the moment when sparring, or else you’d lose. And Keith did not like losing. 

About halfway through the third bout, he became aware of Lotor watching from the doorway. Not covertly, but he hadn’t done anything to draw attention to himself. So he probably wasn’t there on some urgent business. 

Lance had not noticed, as far as Keith could tell. 

Keith attacked, suddenly impatient by the back-and-forth parry-riposte-parry the bout had devolved into. 

He made Lance drop his sword and yield in a matter of moments. 

“What’s up?” he asked Lotor, wiping his forehead and grabbing a water pouch. 

Lotor shrugged, then grinned. “I like watching you spar.”

Keith was pretty sure Lotor said that in his extra-salacious tone just to annoy Lance, which it did. Keith was not entirely sure why Lance disliked Lotor, but then again, Lotor really wasn’t doing anything to help the situation. He was kind of a dick like that sometimes. 

“Allura’s looking for you; I suggest you make sure she doesn’t find you. Altean weddings were never small and private affairs.”

“Oh god,” Keith said. 

“Especially royal weddings,” Lotor continued. “From what I’ve read. And I suspect she will insist on more Altean trimmings than either of us might like, given…” He shrugged again. “ _ Circumstances _ .” 

“You’re hiding from her, too?” Keith asked with a sudden flash of understanding.

“I’m not hiding,” Lotor said, crossing his arms. “I’m choosing my battles.” He turned to Lance. “You could distract her, you know; was that an Altean broadsword I saw you using?”

Lance turned red; Keith could not identify what emotions caused it. “Not that it’s any of your business,” Lance said, crossing his arms, “but yes, it is.”

“It suits you,” Lotor said. “If you’d like to spar with me sometime, I’d make time for it.” He turned back to Keith and bowed. “My Emperor.” 

He left.

Lance frowned. “What did he mean by that?”

“He meant that...he wants to spar with you?” Keith replied, frowning in confusion. 

“What kind of sick fuck just says exactly what he means?” Lance grumbled. “I’m gonna tell Allura he was just here.”

“He’s very busy, you know, ending the war, keeping the empire running. Important stuff.” He paused, realizing he could just  _ ask  _ Lance. “Why don’t you like him?”

Lance crossed his arms. “The guy tried to kill us multiple times and stole the transreality comet from right under our noses, but suddenly it’s  _ my  _ fault that I don’t trust him? Unbelievable. What has he done to gain our trust, Keith?” 

“I mean, for one, he gave up all the military targets he knew of. He did try to get Commander Holt back; it wasn’t his fault that someone got there first.” Keith also crossed his arms, and tried to stop tapping his foot. “It’s not my problem that you’re terrible at deciding which people are trustworthy and which aren’t, Mr. ‘My Lion Almost Got Stolen Because I Was Trying To Get Laid’.” 

“Yeah, well, I bet you’re just defending Lotor ‘cause the alien dick is just that good.”

“I’m not having this conversation with you, Lance. Besides, Hunk trusts him, and Hunk is a  _ much  _ better judge of character than you are.” Keith turned to leave. 

 “You take that back!” Lance shouted at Keith’s back. 

“Take what back?” Allura asked, rounding the corner. “Oh, Keith. Just the person I was looking for.” 

“Nothing. What can I do for you?” Keith asked, while screaming internally. 

* * *

 

Keith flopped face-first onto the bed. “Who knew wedding planning was so complicated?”

“Wedding planners,” Lotor said dryly, flipping through something on his tablet. “I would have hired one, but it’s too short-notice. The fees would be exorbitant.” 

“It’s not like we can't afford it. The Galra empire is fucking rich as hell.” 

“Don’t be frivolous, Keith. We’re saving for the… what did Hunk call it?...the honeymoon.” 

Keith turned to glare at Lotor. “We’re not having a honeymoon. We’re in the middle of a galactic civil war.”

“All the more reason to save some money. Wars are only lucrative if you do it right. Unless you’re a third-party arms-dealer. I hope Allura’s enthusiasm did not alarm you too much.”

“I was prepared for Allura. Coran, on the other hand…” 

“I’m convinced that he makes up half his anecdotes just to screw with us.” 

“I believe that,” Keith said. He rolled over onto his back. “Still, we only have to put up with the wedding stuff for five more days.”

Lotor hummed. “You sound excited.”

“I’m exhausted,” Keith said. “Talking to you is the only thing that’s keeping me awake.”

“Then go to sleep, Keith.” Lotor stroked Keith’s hair back from his face. “You’ll feel better tomorrow.” 


	12. HIPAA Laws Don’t Exist In Space

Three days until the wedding, and there was still so much to be done, because, of course, the empire didn’t stop running  just because the emperor was getting married. 

Still, Lotor was used to multitasking and working under pressure. And this was part of his agreement with Keith. He helped manage things, and in return, he got his own share of power. 

It wasn’t the throne, but he’d manage. It wasn’t a complete loss; he was still  _ alive _ , after all. 

He started at the sound of his communicator going off. Only Keith had the number for it, so he answered immediately. 

It was not Keith at the other end. 

“Lance?” 

“Shit, I don’t- He just collapsed? And I- I think he’s still breathing, but-”

Lotor’s mouth was suddenly very dry. “Where are you?”

“The training room. I’m not sure what to do, and-”

“I’ll be right there.” Lotor kept his voice calm by sheer force of will alone. He hung up on Lance, paged the Imperial physician, and ran down the hallways to the training room. 

“What happened?” he demanded when he got there. He knelt by Keith’s side.

Keith, who was unconscious on the floor. Strangely pale. Sort of gaunt. Was that normal for humans?  

“I don’t know,” Lance said. “We were sparring and he just… collapsed. Maybe he’s sick? But he doesn’t feel warm. Should we get him to a cryopod?” 

“The doctor’s coming,” Lotor replied, smoothing Keith’s hair back, and then finding the artery in Keith’s neck. His pulse was strong. A little slow, perhaps, but strong. 

A reptilian Galra entered the room and cleared his throat. “Sir? I’m Doctor Arnok.” And then, “Oh.” 

The next hour was something of a blur for Lotor. He was never terribly comfortable around doctors, and he was in a state of dull panic about Keith. Lance was no better, and he had even refused to leave until he knew what was wrong with Keith.

Finally, though, Keith was settled in his bed and the doctor pulled them both aside. 

“Low blood sugar,” the doctor said, “complicated by exhaustion and chronic malnutrition. He’s hooked up to an IV for now, but I’m prescribing him dietary supplements. What are his sleeping habits like?”

“He sleeps like shit,” Lance said immediately, his arms crossed. 

The doctor nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’m going to prescribe a sleep medication as well.” 

“Will it be safe for him?” Lotor asked. “He’s only half-Galra.”

“We’ll start with a low dosage of a medication that works safely and effectively on a variety of species and go from there. In the meantime, I’ve sedated him so that he can catch up on his sleep. It should wear off tomorrow morning, but it may make him disorientated; it would be best if he stayed in bed until at least noon.”

Lance and Lotor both snorted at that, then, upon realizing what had happened, exchanged glances. 

“That may prove difficult,” Lotor said. 

“I’ve heard,” the doctor said. “That’s why I sedated him. In the next few days, I’ll have the results from some of the other, more comprehensive tests back, but he’ll be more than well enough for the wedding.” The doctor left.

“It’s probably because of the wedding he passed out,” Lance grumbled. “He always spars when he’s stressed, and we’ve been sparring every free moment the last few days.”

“He received some bad news lately,” Lotor said. “It’s probably that.” _ Bad news  _ was putting it mildly, but Keith had asked for his silence on the subject, so he wouldn’t say more. 

“The news that he was marrying you? Yeah, that would do it.” 

“Can you at least pretend that you respect his decisions?” 

“I don’t for one second believe that it was his idea.”

“But it was his decision. If you don’t like it, take it up with him instead of taking it out on me.”

“I tried that already. He won’t listen to me.”

“I’m shocked,” Lotor said dryly. “Look, I really do believe that you care for him. So, if you won’t trust me, then trust this: this is the safest place for me right now, and I won’t jeopardize that by allowing any harm to come to Keith. I’ve staked my life on his success.”

Lance looked up at him with a furrowed brow. “You actually do care for him, don’t you?”

“I don’t owe you an answer,” Lotor said, suddenly irritated and defensive. 

“Look,” Lance said with a sigh. “We want the same thing, right? We both want Keith to be safe and happy, and I think… I think he might be. With you. So… I already gave you the shovel talk, but I’ll say it again: if you hurt Keith, I swear on the Virgin Mary there will not be enough left of you to identify, alright?”

A sudden flash of understanding came to Lotor then, and he nodded. “Message received.” 

“Good.” Lance yawned. “It’s getting late. Will you… Will you let me know when he wakes up?”

“Of course.”

Lance smiled then. “I’m glad we understand each other.”


	13. That’s Not How Bedrest Works, But Ok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly porn, including: Lotor’s Praise Kink, Crying During Sex, Emotional Trauma, Obliviously Falling in Love

Keith woke slowly, like rising from the depths of a great ocean. He was warm, safe. A little groggy, but that was likely to dissipate soon. 

“Keith?” 

Keith tried to open his eyes. They fluttered open on his second attempt. The lights were dim, but he could still see Lotor sitting in a chair next to the bed.

Keith did not remember going to bed. “What happened?” He asked. 

“You passed out while sparring with Lance. Do you remember?”

He remembered his vision going gray at the edges, the feeling of disconnection between his mind and his body, like he was drifting away. “Sort of.” 

Lotor pressed the rim of a cup to his lips. “Here, drink.”

Keith did. It was just water, but he swore he’d never tasted anything better in his life. 

Lotor took it away when he drained it, then stroked the hair back from Keith’s face. “You scared me,” Lotor admitted softly. “And Lance.”

“I’m sorry,” Keith said. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You haven’t been eating well,” Lotor said sternly. “Or sleeping. I assumed it was just the way you express your grief, but it is harming you, Keith. You have to take care of yourself. What if it happens again, only during a real battle? You could be killed, Keith.”

“I’m sorry,” Keith said again. He felt like he was going to cry, only he didn’t want to. Not right now. 

Lotor stroked his cheek with his thumb, then, almost impulsively, pressed his forehead to Keith’s. “I won’t lose you, too,” Lotor whispered.

Keith felt a Lance-like compulsion to lighten the mood. “We both know you just like me because of my galactic empire.” It came out sounding hollow, but Lotor huffed a laugh.

“Right,” he said, and then he was fully back in his chair. “The doctor is starting you on a strict dietary regimen. Apparently whatever humans eat did not provide sufficient nutrition for you growing up. It’s probably why you’re so small.”

“I’m not small,” Keith said indignantly. 

“Is diminutive better? Short? Minuscule? I could go on. Anyway, the food goo certainly did not help matters. There is good news, though.”

“Oh good.”

“The doctor did a few scans and he thinks, once you get the proper nutrition, you might grow a few more inches.”

“Finally,” Keith said, “I can fulfill my dream of being taller than Lance.” 

“Speaking of, he wanted to see you once you woke up. Shall I send him in?” 

Keith tried to push himself up, only to be stopped by Lotor’s firm but gentle hand on his shoulder. “Did I forget to mention that you are confined to bed until at least noon today?” 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Fine. Send Lance in.” 

Lance, as it turned out, had spent the night in the antechamber, because he had, apparently, been  _ that _ worried.

“You look like shit,” Keith said.

“You’re one to talk,” Lance grouched, perching cross-legged on the bed next to Keith, like he owned it. He snagged something off of the breakfast tray in Keith’s lap. “Is this bacon?” He asked.

Keith shrugged. “Kind of tastes like it.”

“I’ve missed bacon so much,” Lance said, looking a little choked up. He ate the morsel in small bites, savoring every last bit. “Oh my god. I love Hunk, but he has not found a decent space-substitute for bacon. Fuck, Keith, if I marry you, can we eat like this every day?”

Keith punched Lance in the arm. “That’s a shitty proposal.”

Lance snorted. “I bet Lotor’s wasn’t much better.” He snagged another strip of the space-bacon off of Keith’s tray.

Or, tried to, anyway; Keith smacked his hand away. 

Lotor came back into the room then and settled into the chair. “It’s not uncommon for Galra emperors to have more than one spouse,” he said casually. 

Both Keith and Lance turned bright red, and Lance hurriedly changed the subject. “So, you feel better?” 

“I will if you stop eating my food,” Keith said, but softened it with a fond smile. “I’m just...dealing with some things.”

“Lotor said you’d gotten some bad news recently. Didn’t say what, though.” 

Keith glanced at Lotor, who shrugged. “You asked me not to.” 

“Right,” Keith said, under his breath. “I guess… I guess I should tell you. I, uh…” This was harder than he thought it would be. He blinked back tears. “I just found out that my mother is dead,” he said finally, all in a rush.

Lance’s face softened immediately. “Oh, Keith, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?” 

Keith looked away and shook his head. “No. No, I don't think so.” 

Lance nodded. “Well, I’m here for you, if you ever want to talk or anything, ok? Or if there’s anything else. You just have to ask.” 

Keith nodded. “Thanks, Lance.” 

* * *

 

Lance had left a while ago, to shower and get his own food and whatever else he was up to, and now Keith was bored, because apparently, when Lotor said that he was confined to bed, he meant it. 

That, and Keith just hated being laid up anyway, for any reason. 

But now he was getting restless, wracked with the same energy that had gotten him in trouble in school. It wasn’t  _ his  _ fault that he couldn’t sit still for hours at a time.

He scowled at the memory.

“Lotor?” 

“Yes?” 

“I’m bored.” 

“Good for you.” 

“Is it a crime to be a jerk to your emperor?” 

“Probably.” Still, Lotor sighed and put down his tablet. “What can I do for you, Keith?” 

“I was thinking that, as much as I enjoyed the first time we had sex, I didn’t get to touch you as much as I would have liked.”

“You want to have sex,” Lotor said flatly. “I’m not sure that counts as bedrest.”

“You didn’t say that I was on bedrest. Only that I was confined to bed.” 

Lotor appeared to think it over, but he didn’t take very long. Instead, he rose, sighed dramatically, and stripped. “You make a compelling argument, My Emperor. I can’t argue with that logic.” He began to climb onto the bed next to Keith.

“Turn around,” Keith said.

Lotor froze. “Excuse me?” 

“Turn around for me? I didn’t really get a good chance to see you before, and-”

“No,” Lotor said softly yet firmly. 

Which, fair enough; Keith wasn’t going to argue. “Ok. Come here, then?” 

Lotor looked slightly relieved, like he’d thought Keith was going to… To what? What had Lotor’s previous partners done to him? 

Still, he seemed more than happy to straddle Keith’s thighs. Neither of them were more than half hard so far, but Keith reached up and pulled Lotor’s face down so he could make out with him, and that was a good start. Especially when Lotor moaned into his mouth when he pulled his hair. 

“I noticed you’re still dressed, My Emperor,” Lotor said when he sat back to let Keith breathe. 

“You should do something about that,” Keith said.

“If you insist.” 

He undressed Keith slowly, teasingly, to the point that Keith almost regretted it, except that he liked the feeling of Lotor’s hands trailing over every inch of revealed skin, and he liked the way Lotor looked at him. 

Keith told Lotor as much, causing Lotor to grin slyly. “I was rather curious about something,” Lotor began when he had finally removed Keith’s boxers. 

“Yeah?” 

Lotor did…  _ something _ , and all of a sudden he had claws at the end of each finger. He ran one down the center of Keith’s chest. “As you can tell, my claws are quite sharp,” he said, but Keith barely heard him. He was too focused on that point of contact, the one that felt like an electric shock.

He swallowed and let out a shaky breath. 

Lotor’s grin grew wider. “You’re only giving me ideas,” he said, dragging the claw back up Keith’s chest. He never dug it in hard enough to break skin, but it made Keith’s heart beat harder, made blood rush in his ears… 

Keith gasped when he grasped Keith’s thigh with his free hand, letting the sharp points dig into his skin briefly, before trailing his hand upwards.

Keith only realized he was holding his breath when Lotor said, “Breathe. I’m not going to hurt you. Unless you want me to.” 

Keith huffed a laugh, then nodded. He- It was strange, but he did trust Lotor, and he was enjoying this greatly. 

Lotor shifted Keith so that he could kneel between his spread legs. “As I was saying,” he said, “I was curious in regards to some aspects of human anatomy.” 

“I’m probably not the best specimen,” Keith said, his eyes still riveted on Lotor’s claws. “I’m only half human.”

“But you are the most convenient one.” He ran one claw lightly over the surface of Keith’s scrotum. “What is this?”

Keith, who was having some sort of religious experience, took a long time to answer. He had, he realized, nearly cum from that alone. It was a good thing Lotor kept his claws sheathed or whatever pretty much all the time. 

“Do Galra not have…” he wheezed, while trying to think of the right words, “not have testicles? Uh, gonads?” 

Lotor looked affronted. “Of course. They’re just internal, like every reasonable creature.” And then he looked horrified. “How do you safeguard them against injury?”

“Sometimes you don’t,” Keith said, speaking from regrettable experience. 

“They must be extraordinarily sensitive,” Lotor said, “based on your reaction.” And then, Lotor being Lotor, he did it again, on the other side.

“You’re evil,” Keith wheezed. It was an effort to hold himself still, but Lotor’s razor-sharp claws were right in the vicinity of his junk, and he rather not explain  _ that  _ to the doctor. 

“We can come back to this some other time,” Lotor said, sheathing his claws, “and you can take your turn.” 

“My turn?” Keith asked. 

“Well, it’s only fair.” He stroked Keith’s dick once, twice. “I’m sure you’re equally curious.” 

Keith tackled Lotor. He’d been itching for this opportunity. He kissed Lotor, revelling in the sweet sting of Lotor’s fangs, the way he kissed back. 

“Eager,” Lotor said, amused, “are we?” 

“Of course I am,” Keith said. “There’s a hot naked guy in my bed, and I just discovered a new kink.”

“I noticed. Perhaps I should tie you down after all. Wouldn’t want you moving at the wrong moment, now would we.” 

And that did sound like fun, but it was not on Keith’s agenda for today. “I want to fuck you,” he said. And then, teasingly, “It’s only fair.”

“You should suck my dick, then, too,” Lotor huffed, still amused. He guided one of Keith’s hands to his dick, now fully hard. 

Keith could not quite wrap his hand all the way around it. “I’m not sure I can,” he admitted. “Just… anatomically speaking.” 

“Not with that attitude, you can’t,” Lotor said playfully. “But you don’t have to.”

There were a series of ridges on the underside of Lotor’s dick, and Keith rubbed his thumb back and forth over one.

Lotor shuddered so hard he nearly threw Keith off of him.

_ Holy shit. _

“What are these for?” Keith asked, pleased with himself that he was the one who had Lotor quaking underneath him. 

“Your pleasure, mostly,” Lotor said with a shaky voice. “They’re incredibly sensitive.” 

“I can tell. Are they Galra or Altean?”

“G- Galra. Most Galra have between two and six.”

So that was what had made Keith’s first time so pleasurable. Each ridge going into him, rubbing against  his prostate in just the right way… He ran his thumb over each ridge, counting. Five in total. 

“I don’t have these,” Keith said, somewhat apologetically. 

“They aren’t necessary. They merely...enhance the experience.” 

Keith hummed thoughtfully. He’d have to ride Lotor in the future. Not tonight, though at this point, he was wondering if he should make a list of all the things he wanted to do with Lotor. Like some sort of sexy bucket list. 

He indulged himself by running his free hand down Lotor’s chest, over the smooth planes of muscle and ropy scars. Keith was not surprised that Lotor had so many scars; he was a ten-thousand year old warrior, after all. One day, he’d ask Lotor about each one. 

It was impressive proof that Lotor had survived everything thrown at him. 

Keith ran his hand back up Lotor’s abdomen, off to the side, along the curve of his rib cage, until his fingers encountered another scar.

Lotor froze immediately, tense and still and...frightened? 

Keith sat back; that couldn’t be right. “Lotor?” 

Lotor struggled for a long moment, trying to compose himself. “I-“ His breath came quickly, shallowly, and he wouldn’t meet Keith’s gaze. 

“Should we stop?” Keith asked. 

“No,” Lotor whispered, then louder: “No. Do whatever you want to me.”

Keith frowned. “It isn’t about just what I want.”

Lotor muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, “I don’t deserve you,” then pushed himself more or less upright. “I’m fine,” he said. “I will be fine.” 

Keith was not sure which of them he was trying to convince. Still, he nodded. “I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable, and I’m not going to hurt you.”

Lotor nodded once, jerkily. “I know that.” He hunched in on himself a little. “It’s just… No one’s ever… I- It’s hard to trust people, sometimes.”

“I know.”

Lotor nodded again. “But you… I trust you, Keith. I trust you like no one else.” With slow, careful, hesitant movements, he laid down on his front and pulled his hair aside, exposing the entirety of his back.

Keith bit back a gasp. The scar he’d felt earlier was just one of many, criss-crossing from the top of Lotor’s shoulders to the small of his back. 

They were old scars, pale with age, but that didn’t make it any better. 

“Who did this to you?” Keith asked, angry on Lotor’s behalf. These weren’t battle scars, that much was clear. 

“My father ordered it.” Lotor had his arms tucked in close against his body, his hands drawn up near his face and clutching the sheets. The sheets made a tearing sound and Keith realized Lotor’s claws ripping them. His shoulders were still so tense. “He ordered me whipped before he sent me into exile.” 

“But you survived that,” Keith said. “You won. He’s dead. He can’t- He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“No one’s ever seen them before,” Lotor said. “It’s- I’ve never wanted anyone to seem them. And I didn’t want you to see them, either.”

“I don’t think any less of you,” Keith reassured him.

“It’s not that. It’s just… Too much, sometimes. Too heavy. But I couldn’t keep it hidden from you forever. I realized that. So… Just…” 

“Can I touch you?” Keith asked. 

Lotor hesitated, then nodded. 

Keith rearranged himself so that he was kneeling over Lotor’s waist, then gently put his hands on Lotor’s shoulders. He could feel the tension under his fingers, the way Lotor stiffened when he touched him, the way the muscles bunched and relaxed. 

He kept his touch gentle, merely gliding over the muscles and bones of Lotor’s back, skimming across the scars.

It took several minutes, but Lotor did relax, or willed himself to relax, and eventually he had his arms crossed in front of him and his head pillowed in them. Keith took that as a sign of success. 

“I want this to be good for you,” he said quietly. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want…” Lotor’s voice was muffled, but maybe he preferred it that way, that extra barrier between his emotions and Keith. And Keith understood. “I want to forget.” 

Keith understood that, too. He pressed a kiss to the nape of Lotor’s neck. “You’re beautiful,” he said spontaneously, honestly. 

Lotor made a sound in the back of his throat that Keith could not decipher. 

“What was that?” He asked. 

“No one’s… No one’s ever called me beautiful,” Lotor said.

“Why not? You are.”

Lotor’s breath hitched. “Not by Galra standards. Merely...exotic. A novelty.”

“I don’t care about that,” Keith said, pressing another kiss into Lotor’s skin. “You are beautiful.” 

Lotor made a soft noise, almost like a sob. “Please, Keith…”

“What do you want?” 

“I want you to fuck me.” 

“Like this?”

“Keith…” 

Keith was going to take that as a ‘yes.’ He leaned over and dug the bottle of alien lube out of the side table. “You sure? We don’t have to.” 

“Keith!” 

“Ok, ok.” He kissed the small of Lotor’s back. Keith had never done this before, but it couldn’t be that hard. 

He lubed up his fingers and pressed one very gently against Lotor’s entrance. It slid in easily, much more easily hat Keith thought it would. 

Lotor made a small pleased sound in his chest, so Keith figured he was on the right track. He added another finger and searched for…

Lotor wheezed, his spine bowing in the middle. 

_ Found it.  _

In short order, Keith added another finger, continuing to press and rub against the Galra equivalent of a prostate. Lotor had basically melted, boneless, into the bed.

Keith was glad to see the tension leave him. 

“Are you ready?” Keith asked finally. 

Lotor nodded, another small noise escaping him. 

Keith lubed his cock up, then slowly pressed it into Lotor, who had gone completely still and silent. 

When Keith bottomed out, he asked, “Alright?”

Lotor hummed and shifted just so; Keith saw stars. 

There was not a lot of leverage in this position, for either of them, so Keith went with a slow, deep grind. He was in just the right position to kiss and nip at Lotor’s neck, which had Lotor tilting his head to one side to allow Keith better access. 

Keith was not sure what Lotor appreciated more, the kisses and nips or finally being fucked, but he made all sorts of pleased and satisfied noises, and Keith did not believe for one second that they were faked. 

He was in the wrong position to kiss Lotor on the mouth, though he desperately wanted to, but that would have to wait. He steadied himself with one hand in the sheets and slipped the other under Lotor’s hips, until he found Lotor’s dick. 

The angle wasn’t great, but he wrapped his hand around it and thumbed at the ridges, just like earlier, in time to his thrusts.

Lotor’s breathing was ragged now; they were both getting close, Keith knew. He gave one last nip to Lotor’s neck. “You’re so beautiful, so good for me, so good…”

Lotor seized up with a noise like a sob as he came in Keith’s hand. Two more thrusts had Keith cumming, too.

He collapsed, doing the best he could not to collapse directly on top of Lotor. 

As soon as Lotor regained his breath, he pulled Keith over, cupped his face in both hands, and kissed him, just as slowly and deeply as Keith had fucked him. 

“You’re crying,” Keith realized when he pulled back to breathe. “Are you ok?”

Lotor swiped at the tear stains on his face. “I’m fine. No one’s...ever been that good to me, before. That’s all.”

Which was a crime, as far as Keith was concerned. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You deserve better than that.” 

“I have you now,” Lotor said. 


	14. Dramatic Irony Is A Heartless Bitch

Whatever Lotor felt for Keith, it was becoming impossible to ignore. Still, they didn’t talk about things like that, so he didn’t mention it. Or even examine it too closely. 

The wedding was tomorrow, and it really felt like he had too much to do. He probably did, but he’d never let that stop him before. Kept his mind sharp, if nothing else. 

Keith had finally decided it was best to tell Voltron about his mother, and they reacted exactly as Keith thought they would: sympathy and condolences and platitudes. Not that there was much to be done about it at this point anyway. The dead were best left alone. 

But, now that Voltron knew, Lotor decided to do something he was going to regret. 

The Green Paladin had never warmed up to him. Fair enough. He didn’t need her to like him for this; he’d rely on her camaraderie with Keith, and that would be enough. 

Either way, Keith did not know about this yet, and that was for the best. 

“Does Keith know you’re giving this to me?” She asked suspiciously. 

“I didn’t want to get his hopes up,” he said, “if you can’t manage to retrieve the redacted data.” 

She glared at that. It would have been adorable, like a baby animal, if her bayard wasn’t within easy reach. “Of course I can retrieve the data,” she said, her arms crossed. “It’s from the Blades, you said?”

“Yes.” He pulled up the file. “I’d prefer if you kept whatever you find to yourself, at least until Keith decides what to do with it.” 

“This is a personnel file,” she said, her eyes flicking over it much faster that Keith’s had. “Oh my god, she looks just like him.” 

“So you’ll do it?”

She grimaced. “It’s for Keith, so…” 

“Thank you,” Lotor said. “It will mean a lot to Keith.” 

* * *

 

Lotor would have liked to know where Haggar was, but she’d disappeared after leaving Feyiv, and no one had seen her since. At least, no one who could speak about it. 

At least she’d taken all her druids with her, and all her current projects. If Throk wasn’t such an idiot, Lotor might have felt sorry for him. He was, probably, still alive. 

If Haggar had left him, Lotor would have put him out of his misery by now. He’d seen people after Haggar had concluded her questioning, and it was never a pretty sight. 

He forced himself to unclench his jaw. She was on the far side of the empire, as far as he knew, and she couldn’t hurt him from there. Not easily. Not with her spy dead. 

He felt a presence behind him, his instincts fine-tuned after centuries of failed assassination attempts. “Oh, Shiro. Is there something I can help you with?”

Shiro was the only one of Keith’s friends who hadn’t given him what Lance referred to as “the shovel talk,” so that’s what he was expecting. 

Lotor had not seen much of Shiro in the past week, for whatever reason. It likely wasn’t important; Voltron had been taking a much-needed break, and there had been little that Shiro, or any of the team, needed to do. 

“Shiro?” 

Shiro shook his head. “Sorry. I’ve been… Sorry. I had something I wanted to discuss with you.”

“With regards to…?”

“Your plans once the war is over.”

“I intend to do as Keith wills. He’s  my emperor, and he will be my husband after tomorrow. If you wish to discuss the future of the empire, perhaps you should do that with Keith.” 

Shiro nodded, and, to Lotor’s untrained eye, he looked uncomfortable. But that was surely a...trick of the light? His imagination? 

“Right. I’ll do that,” Shiro said. He turned to leave. 

“Wait!” Lotor said suddenly. “I’ve been meaning to ask you… Why did you give me your bayard during the prisoner exchange?” 

Shiro’s back was to him, so Lotor had no idea was what happening in his head. “I… don’t know. I guess I thought it was a good idea.” Shiro left, just as silently as he’d come. 

It was not a satisfying answer, as far as Lotor was concerned. There was something off about it.

But then, he didn’t know Shiro very well. So maybe it was nothing. 

* * *

 

It wasn’t until late in the evening that he got to be alone with Keith. In fact, he’d barely seen him all day, they’d both been so busy. 

“Is there like, a thing, where I can’t see you before the wedding tomorrow?” Keith asked while Lotor braided his hair.

Made it easier to manage. “No? I mean, we probably won’t have time, but it’s not a tradition.” 

“It’s an Earth superstition,” Keith said. “Bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”

Lotor smiled. “And which of us is the bride, then?”

“Thankfully, neither.” 

Lotor laughed, then tied off his braid and climbed into bed next to Keith. 

Keith sat up. “I know we’re going to be really busy tomorrow, so I wanted to give you this ahead of time.” He handed Lotor a small box.

Lotor glanced at Keith questioningly, then opened the box. Inside, there were two matching gold rings. Simple, unadorned, but lovely in their simplicity. 

“It’s another Earth thing,” Keith said, a little shyly. “Couples exchange rings after the vows, and I know we have to have a more traditional Galra wedding, so…”

“They’re beautiful,” Lotor said. He leaned over and kissed Keith, like he’d been wanting to all day. 

“I hope it fits,” Keith said. “I had to kind of guess, but we can have it resized…Here, can I?” 

He allowed Keith to slip the ring onto the third finger of his left hand (which Keith referred to as his “ring finger”); it was a perfect fit. 

Lotor returned the favor, and realized he quite liked it. Now everyone would know that Keith was his, and he was Keith’s. More permanent than any bruises he could leave. He kissed the ring, and then flipped Keith’s hand over and kissed his palm. 

“I-“ The words froze in his throat. “Thank you,” he said instead. “For everything.” 


	15. Being Oblivious Is Gay Culture

Lotor had been right, Keith realized. It may not be Galra tradition to keep the couple separated until the wedding, but damn. This was ridiculous. 

He toyed with the gold band he now wore. It felt a little strange -he wasn’t a big jewelry person -but it also felt right, somehow. Like he wasn’t alone. 

“You should have gotten a haircut,” Lance muttered.

“There’s nothing wrong with my hair, Lance.” 

Lance snorted. “Right. Well, I guess that’s about as good as it’s gonna get.” 

“Have you seen Shiro?” Keith asked. 

“Today? Or in general?” 

Keith grimaced. “Today, you jerk.” 

“Uh, no, actually.”

“Oh.” 

“I mean, it’s probably just… spending so much time on a Galra warship? You know.”

“Right. Of course.” It probably was just that. Shiro wasn’t avoiding him. That would be silly, and completely out of character. 

Lance finished pinning the fancy cape on Keith’s shoulders. “Don’t you look regal as fuck,” Lance said.

“Thanks for your help,” Keith said.

“Hey, what are friends for? I mean, you’ll be there when I get married, right?” 

“Of course,” Keith said, automatically. And then he realized it wasn’t just a hollow sentiment; he actually meant it. He’d be there for Lance, when Lance needed him, and Lance… Lance would be there when he needed him. Just as he was now. 

“Nice bling you got there,” Lance said, finally noticing Keith’s ring. “An early wedding gift from your boo?”

“Don’t call him that,” Keith said. “And no, I got us the matching rings. He gave me his fighter.” 

Lance whistled lowly. “Just like that?”

“He let me fly it first, and then I guess he saw how much I enjoyed it, so he gave it to me? I mean, he’s got another in production, so…”

“He’s got it bad,” Lance said.

“No?” Keith said. “He’s just, you know…”

“Keith, he gave you one of his super fancy transreality comet ships. Because he wanted to. What do you think that means?” 

“That… I’m the emperor, and he’s trying to stay on my good side?” 

Lance sighed. “No offense, Keith, but sometimes you are as dense as a box of rocks. Whatever, it’s time for you two lovebirds to get married. Then you’ll have the rest of your lives to be emotionally repressed together.” 

* * *

 

It was a small ceremony, just Team Voltron and some of the higher-ranking officers from the ship itself. A bevy of drones equipped with cameras hovered in midair to capture the best angles, and the ceremony would be broadcasted across the universe tomorrow, along with Keith’s Declaration Of Universal Manumission (which he was quite pleased with). 

Still, Keith was glad that, at the very least, he had Lotor beside him. It was difficult to identify when Lotor’s presence had become comforting, but it was, and that was the important thing. 

A very scary important thing.

He and Lotor knelt before the commander of the flagship, who would be officiating, while he made a speech that Keith would not remember later. 

He was too busy glancing at Lotor out of the corner of his eye. Allura, it seemed, had put her foot down and made Lotor wear clothing more characteristically Altean, and damn if he didn’t look good in them.

Finally, it was time for Keith to stand and remove the circlet from its pillow. He looked down at Lotor and tried very hard not to think inappropriate thoughts in front of his friends and the cameras. He did vividly remember the last time Lotor knelt in front of him. 

“With this, I designate you my consort, my right hand, my partner in all things. Do you accept these responsibilities?”

“I do,” replied Lotor. 

Keith set the circlet atop Lotor’s head, and took his hands in order to help him to his feet (not that Lotor needed help). 

“You may now seal your union,” the commander said. 

Keith took Lotor in his arms, and then, surprising both of them, dipped Lotor like they were in some kind of ballroom dance contest, kissing him all the while. 

He heard Lance wolf-whistle in the background, but honestly his only focus was on Lotor. His husband.

_ His husband _ . 

When they straightened, the commander said, “It is my honor to officially present His Majesty, Emperor Keith of the Galra Empire, and His Highness, Prince-Consort Lotor.” 

* * *

 

There was, of course, a party afterwards, though it was all Keith could do to keep from sneaking off with Lotor.

The realization that the team would be leaving the day after tomorrow helped;  who knew when or if he’d seen them again? 

And Hunk had been doing some research on Galra cuisine, and he made use of the ample supplies the emperor’s flagship had onboard. 

Finally, though, the party ended, as all parties do. Keith was...more than a little tipsy, truth be told, and it took Lotor’s firm hand on his arm to get him to their rooms. 

He fell face-first onto the bed, giggling a little from the alcohol and the day’s events. They seemed so unbelievable, like this was a dream.

If it was, he didn’t want to wake up. 

Lotor was slightly less drunk, and took it upon himself to get Keith down to his underwear. The formal clothes were not suitable sleepwear. 

“You’re beautiful,” Lotor said as he laid out next to Keith. 

“Not as beautiful as you,” Keith replied, drawing Lotor in so he could kiss him. There was only so much PDA he was willing to do in front of his friends. But now they were alone, and it was their wedding night, and the alcohol made him pleasantly warm. 

“It’s our wedding night,” he said.

Lotor’s eyes sparkled. “So it is.”

“I didn’t expect it to be like this.” 

“No? What did you expect then?” 

Keith shrugged. “I didn’t expect to feel like this. This isn’t just...a business transaction anymore.”

Lotor propped himself up on his elbow and stroked Keith’s hair. “What would you call it, then?”

“I don’t know,” Keith said, “but I’m willing to find out with you.” 

* * *

 

Keith wasn’t sure why he’d woken before Lotor; frankly he wasn’t even sure why  _ he _ was awake, between the alcohol and the two rounds of sex last night.

But he liked how at ease Lotor was when he slept. He seemed younger, softer. And gorgeous. Always that. 

He debated waking Lotor up. On the one hand, it was nice to see Lotor sleeping peacefully. 

On the other… they  _ were _ newlyweds, and while Keith hadn't expected to be affected like this, he wasn’t going to argue with it. 

Before he could make up his mind, Lotor’s eyes fluttered open, and he smiled, like he was genuinely happy that Keith was the first thing he saw when he woke. 

“Good morning,” Keith murmured, quietly so as not to break this fragile, peaceful moment. 

“Good morning,  _ husband _ ,” Lotor said, because he liked to play dirty. 

Keith smiled, then kissed Lotor because he could. Unless an emergency came up, they had nothing planned for today, and if they wanted, they could spend it here, in bed, together. 

Which sounded like a very good plan, as far as Keith was concerned. 

He pushed against Lotor’s shoulders until he was on his back with Keith kneeling over him, kissing him all the while, slow and sleepy because it seemed that they had all the time in the universe. 

When he stopped kissing Lotor in favor of retrieving the lube, Lotor bit into that spot under Keith’s jaw than made him moan. 

In retaliation, Keith sat up, which made Lotor whine. 

“Be patient,  _ husband _ ,” Keith said, playfully using Lotor’s own words from last night against him. He ran his hands down Lotor’s chest, feeling up his husband just because he could. If Lotor didn’t want to be teased like that, maybe he should have thought about that before-

Lotor yelped when Keith grabbed his cock, probably because the lube on Keith’s hand was still a little cold. Not that he was any less hard because of it. 

He slid his hand up and down a few times, achingly slow, making sure to catch each and every one of those ridges with his thumb. 

Keith used his other hand to pin Lotor’s hips to the bed, although if Lotor really wanted up, he could probably overpower Keith. Today, though, it seemed he was happy to play Keith’s little game. 

And that, in Keith’s mind, called for a reward. He was still loose enough from the previous night that he was able to sink all the way down on Lotor’s cock in one go. Slowly, of course, because he wanted to feel those ridges. 

Lotor’s hands were on his hips now, and Keith could feel his claws pricking into his skin. 

“Are you doing that on purpose?” Keith asked. “Or because you can’t control yourself?” 

“I can stop, if you don’t like it,” Lotor said. 

“Don’t you dare.”

Lotor grinned smugly, and then, before Keith knew what was happening, he was on his back, with Lotor hovering over him, still buried inside him. Lotor leaned down to capture his mouth in a rough kiss. In contrast, he began fucking Keith slowly, with a strange sort of gentleness. 

“Fuck me harder,” Keith demanded. They’d had slow and sweet last night, and now… 

“As my emperor commands,” Lotor said. He ran one hand down Keith’s thigh to his knee, then hitched his knee up almost to his chest. 

Automatically, Keith’s other leg came up to wrap around Lotor’s waist, to pull him closer. 

This new angle changed everything, and Keith swore he saw God, which was a little strange since he was an atheist, but _ holy shit _ . 

He felt full in all the best ways, and it seemed like Lotor managed to rub up against his prostate with every thrust, and Lotor’s teeth were back on his neck…

It was no surprise neither of them lasted long. Everything just felt  _ too _ good. 

The afterglow was one of the best parts, anyway. The sex was fantastic, but the afterglow was peaceful and quiet and still, and he could just  _ be _ . 

“I think you’ve ruined me for anyone else,” Lotor said with a soft laugh. “I’ve never had this much great sex in so short a time.” 

“Good. We’re married.” 

Lotor cracked open one eye. “I wasn’t joking the other day when I said Galra emperors could have multiple spouses. It’s widely practiced in Galra culture. Only a handful of emperors have done it, but…”

“I didn’t think you were joking,” Keith said. “But this is so new, and I just want to figure out what it even is, before we add someone else. If we could find someone else.” 

Lotor smoothed Keith’s hair down. “You wouldn’t have to look far,” he said. 


	16. Feelings Are Scary, A Novel By Lotor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bullshit Galra Biology brings all the boys to the yard

Lotor could not remember being happier in his life. 

And that scared him. 

He knew, from experience, that such happiness wouldn’t last long. It never did. Perhaps that was why he’d never pursued a long-term relationship with anyone before; he’d just be giving another pawn for Haggar to use against him, and he wouldn’t have been able to withstand the heartbreak. 

He’d been very young when he realized that no one loved him, and he’d grown inured to the idea over the years. It still hurt, thinking about it, sometimes, but it was a familiar kind of pain, like the ache in his right knee from where he’d shattered it once. That was the type of pain he could withstand. 

The sharp, burning pain of the witch taking everything from him -his mother, his father, his life’s work, the only four people he’d ever trusted -that was something else. 

He wasn’t going to let her take Keith from him, too. And Keith was his responsibility now. Keith could take care of himself, of course, but it didn’t hurt to have someone at your back that you could trust. 

And Keith did trust him. 

The other paladins did not, the Blades did not, Coran did not, but Keith did. 

And he trusted Keith. 

That was why he slipped into the shower behind Keith without a second thought, unafraid to let Keith see him for who and what he was. 

“Not that I’m complaining,” Keith said as he washed his hair, “but is there a reason for this? You haven’t wanted to before.” 

“I have fewer secrets from you now,” Lotor said. 

“Will I ever learn all your secrets?”

“Ten thousand years’ worth? I doubt it.” 

“Seriously, though, are you in here for sex? Because I don't think that’s gonna happen.”

“It’s not a good idea,” Lotor agreed. “But no, I just…” Why was he there? He could barely stand to let Keith out of his sight, like Keith’s presence alone was some sort of intoxicating drug he just couldn’t get enough of. 

Not that he indulged in any mind-altering substances with any frequency; he rarely felt secure enough to purposefully incapacitate himself. 

And then it hit him. “I want to apologize to you, Keith,” he began. “I should have warned you, but… Honestly, it rarely happens in hybrids, and it’s never happened to me, so I didn’t think… I didn’t think I’d be affected.” 

Keith turned around to face him. “What are you talking about?” 

“In full-blooded Galra, there is an instinctual and pheromonal response to… certain situations, particularly at the start of a new relationship.” 

“That did not answer my question,” Keith said. “Also, pheromones?” 

“Most scientists believe that it initially evolved as a mechanism for the male of the species to ensure that the female was properly impregnated with his offspring.” He closed his eyes. This was terribly embarrassing. “Do humans not do the same?” 

“Why would I know? The only humans I’ve ever really gotten to know are the other paladins, and they’re not exactly ‘normal’ humans.” Then Keith frowned. “Are you implying I could be  _ pregnant _ ?” 

“I sincerely hope not. I feel like the doctor should have mentioned that.” And Dr. Arnok  _ was _ an expert in hybrids. “If it were possible. I was led to believe that human males are incapable of carrying children.” 

Keith sighed in relief. “They are.” He turned back to rinse his hair out; Lotor continued washing himself. “So what are you saying, then?” 

“Whenever I’m around you, my body picks up on pheromones that you’ve released, and those mimic neurotransmitters within my brain that activate the reward centers.” 

“So being around me makes you happy?” 

“...Yes.” 

“Is that why I can barely keep my hands off of you?” 

“Probably. I should have warned you, and I’m sorry for that.” 

Keith whirled around again and pulled his chin down so that they were eye-to-eye. “You didn’t know. You said it happens rarely in hybrids, and that you’ve never experienced it. So you couldn’t have known, so it’s not your fault.” 

“The effects will wear off in a couple of weeks, anyway, and if you prefer, I can… be somewhere else, so you won’t… So you can know that your decisions are yours alone, and not the result of-“ 

Keith kissed him. “I already know they’re not. And even if they were… I can’t remember the last time I felt this happy, and I don’t want to lose that. But if you really want to go, I won’t stop you.”

“I don’t want to,” Lotor admitted.

“Then that’s that. You said it would wear off in a couple of weeks? Then we should enjoy it while we can.” 

* * *

 

So perhaps it was the pheromones and some instinctual response from the primitive parts of his brain that made him this happy, but Lotor found that he didn’t really mind. 

Even if he did, there was not a whole lot he could do about it. So there was no point in worrying about it. 

“Lotor?” 

“Yes, Keith?” 

“I’m, uh, I’m going to go talk to Lance, and I’d like you to come with.” 

“Why?” 

“I’ve been meaning to talk to him about something, but I’ve been ignoring it, hoping if I didn’t - Hoping the problem would go away. But it hasn’t, and he’s leaving tomorrow, so… And I think you might be able to give some insights of your own. You’re good at reading people.” 

Lotor stood, stretched; Keith didn’t so much as make a face this time. “What is this about, Keith?” 

Keith grimaced. “Shiro.” 

Of course. Gods, Lotor envied what Keith and Shiro had had. If only  _ someone  _ had given a shit about him, then… “Do you think Lance will be forthcoming with me there?” Lotor asked. 

“I thought -he  _ implied  _ that you two had come to some sort of understanding. Anyway, it’s about Shiro. He idolizes Shiro; he’d do just about anything for him.” 

“Like you would.”

Keith’s eyes snapped up to meet his. “Yes,” he breathed finally. Then, back in his normal humor, “I’m not bringing you along so you can read  _ me _ .” 

“You make it so easy,” Lotor teased. “You might not say much, but you don’t need to. I can always tell what you’re thinking.” 

Keith crossed his arms. “It’s already late, and Lance is a bitch if you wake him up. Come on.” 

Lance, apparently, had been in the process of getting ready for sleep, based on his pale green face mask and the bathrobe he was wearing. 

It reminded Lotor a little  _ too  _ much of the nights aboard his cruiser with his generals, when he’d honestly thought- when he’d hoped- 

“I want to talk to you,” Keith said. 

“I’m going to bed,” Lance grumped. 

“It’s about Shiro.”

“You couldn’t have done this earlier? And you had to bring Mr. ‘I’ve Never Had So Much As A Single Zit In My Life’ with you?” 

“Between multiple heart surgeries, a brief stint on dialysis, and an eye correction surgery, I had enough problems while I went through puberty,” Lotor drawled, his arms crossed. “Thank all the gods I had clear skin, because otherwise I’m not sure what I would have done.” 

“Yeah, well-”

“That’s enough,” Keith said sharply. “And no, I wanted to make sure we won’t be interrupted. I’m having a pair of sentries monitor Shiro’s door.” 

“Is that really necessary?” Lance asked. “We don’t even know what’s wrong with him.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Keith said. “So, please, can we talk?” 

Lance looked back and forth between the two of them, then grimaced. “Yeah, come in.” 

The guest rooms did not contain quite the same ascetic opulence of the Imperial Suite, but there was still seating enough for the three of them. 

“So. You decided to follow up with our conversation from two weeks ago finally,” Lance said. “And right while I was in the middle of my nightly skin care routine. I assume you brought Lotor up to speed?”

“...Yes,” Keith said. “Have you talked to anyone else?”

“No. Who could I talk to? I knew you’d believe me, Keith, but…” He shrugged. “At least, I hope you believe me.”

“I believe something is not right with Shiro. We just don’t know if it’s… something malicious, or just. Just the war.” 

“You said he didn’t come back quite right?” Lotor asked finally. “After his fight with my father?” 

“He was missing for...months,” Keith said. “We looked for him, but it was like he was just....gone.” 

Lotor frowned. “Gone how? I know you recovered the Black Lion, so did he get out and fight my father like that?” If he had, then Shiro was a much more impressive fighter than Lotor had suspected. 

Keith shook his head. “He never left. At least, no one saw him leave. The cockpit was just...empty. Like he’d vanished into thin air.” 

“The Black Lion has capabilities that the other Lions lack,” Lotor said thoughtfully. “Specifically in regards to the unexplainable mysteries of the universe. Like Altean alchemy. It is possible that he did, indeed, vanish into thin air. I imagine there were significant gaps in his memory?” 

“There were.” 

“Hmm. Are you absolutely certain that…” He was not sure how to phrase this. “Could he have been lying about his memory?” 

“He didn’t like talking about it,” Lance said. “Which is totally reasonable.” 

Fair enough. “So what did he say about it?” 

“Just that he escaped, spent a while at a Rebellion listening post, then set out to find us in a stolen Galra fighter,” Lance replied. 

“Did he escape? Or was he let go?” Lotor mused aloud. Internally, things were beginning to come together. “His ‘escape’ may have been staged for his benefit and yours. He may not even realize what he is. Just that… Just that something isn’t quite right.” 

“Then what is he?” 

“I don’t have proof of this,” Lotor said, “but I know of a secret druid project. I was never able to get very much information about it, but I do know that Haggar has always been very interested in mind control.” He never thought she’d use it against  _ him _ , but well. Certain events had proved otherwise. 

“You think Shiro’s being _ mind-controlled _ ?” Lance asked. 

“It’s a possibility. The Galra-tech of Shiro’s arm could make him susceptible, but I will admit that I don’t know very much about druidry. Haggar was careful not to leave notes on her current projects in the lab aboard this ship, but I’ll see what I can find.” 

He glanced over at Keith, who had been quiet the last several minutes. Keith was frowning. “You know more about the druids than we do.” 

“Well, yes.” He briefly debated saying more, before deciding on full disclosure. “I was a very sickly child, and I was in the care of the druids until I was old enough for my father to take an interest in my education. I...learned a great deal, but that was primitive druidry. I imagine the art has come a long way in ten thousand years.” He sighed. “The komar, for instance. I could perform an old variation, an inefficient one, but the witch has managed to perfect the ritual.” 

Keith lifted his eyebrows. “You can do the komar?” 

“I know how,” Lotor said a little crossly, “but I won’t. It’s... _ barbaric _ .” 

“So basically, you’re saying you don’t know what’s possible anymore? As far as the druids go,” Lance said. 

“The druids are very secretive, and intensely loyal to Haggar.  _ No one _ really knows what’s possible.” 

Keith sighed. “Look, we’re not getting anywhere. It’s late, and I know you guys are leaving early in the morning. So, Lance, you keep an eye on Shiro, Lotor will go through Haggar’s lab, and I’ll… you know. Ok?” 

Lance nodded. “You keep in touch, ok? Pidge gave you that comm for a reason.” 

“I will.” 

“Good. We’re gonna miss you, buddy, but I guess it’s time to go back to saving the universe.” 

“You do that, Sharpshooter.” 

* * *

 

Haggar’s lab was… Well. It was ten thousand years old. Future historians would kill for a chance like this, but Lotor was of a mind to burn the whole thing down the second he was done. 

He would have, too, if not for the fact that he was on a spaceship. 

Being there with Allura hadn’t been so bad. She didn’t know the significance of most of it, and she only really cared about anything that had to do with Altean alchemy. The rest… The rest she had ignored. 

He couldn’t. 

He tried anyway. It would take weeks to go through everything as it was, but if he had to stop every five minutes because he couldn’t leave his childhood behind him like any reasonable person, then it could take years. And by then, it would be too late. 

Haggar wouldn’t wait that long. Whatever she was planning, whether or not Shiro was involved in some way, she undoubtedly had a plan. 

She’d picked Sendak for a reason. She’d thrown his heritage in his face for a reason.  She’d spied on him for a reason. She didn’t act without reason. 

It all fit together, but there were too many pieces missing for him to see what she was planning. 

When he could no longer ignore the overwhelming dread her lab filled him with, he left and sought out Keith.

He wouldn’t let her take him, too.


	17. Haggar, That B- Uh, Witch

Keith had to admit, privately, that the sleeping pills had been a good idea on the doctor’s part. They took about fifteen minutes to kick in, none of which he remembered, and then he was out for a solid eight hours. No dreams, no nightmares, no insomnia. 

According to Lotor, those fifteen minutes were “highly entertaining” but he refused to say what Keith did or said. Keith wasn’t sure he wanted to know anyway. 

So it was weird when Keith woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. The alarms weren’t going off, his comm was silent, there was no one at the door…

He rolled over in an attempt to go back to sleep, and then realized what the problem was: the other half of the bed was empty. 

Lotor usually slept soundly, deeply. Keith was the restless sleeper. 

And somehow, instinctively, he knew something was wrong. 

He sat up. The emergency lights provided just enough illumination for him to see a figure hunched in one of the room’s corners.

“Lotor?”

No response. Keith climbed out of bed and approached.

He did not like what he saw: 

Lotor’s eyes glowed yellow in the dark, wild and unfocused, his pupils paper-thin slits, and he had his back pressed into the corner, like a trapped animal. His claws gleamed in the low light. 

“Lotor?” Keith asked again.

Lotor  _ snarled  _ at him, a sound that was far too inhuman. 

Keith took a step back and to the side, so that he was against one wall. That way, Lotor wouldn’t feel trapped. He hoped. “Lotor, it’s me. It’s Keith. I won’t hurt you.” 

Lotor blinked a few times. “Keith?” He sounded confused,  _ lost _ . 

It tore at Keith’s heart. Lotor didn’t talk about his past, and Keith had some idea of why, but he hadn’t realized… 

“Keith,” Lotor said again, to himself, like he was reminding himself of something. He slid down the wall to the floor, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“Are you-?” Keith began to ask, but then he realized it was stupid question; Lotor obviously wasn’t ok, and Keith had no idea what to do. 

“Where am I?” Lotor asked, his voice small and tired. 

Keith sat down next to him. Not touching, but nearby. “Aboard the flagship. In our room. Do you remember?” 

Lotor nodded, but he hunched in on himself, his arms around his knees. It struck Keith as a childish gesture, and he could so easily imagine Lotor as a child, curled up exactly like this, and it broke his goddamn heart. 

“What do you need?” Keith asked.

“Did I wake you? I didn’t mean to,” Lotor said, tonelessly, and that seemed wrong, too; Lotor always spoke vibrantly, his words imbued with amusement or a thousand other things, never flat. 

“I’m worried about you,” Keith said. “I don’t know what to do for you.”

“There’s nothing you can do,” Lotor said. “Unless you can turn back time.” 

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” 

“No,” Lotor said. He reached out and took Keith’s hand.

Keith let him, and even squeezed Lotor’s hand encouragingly. His claws had retracted, and Keith hoped that was a good sign. 

“I...had a dream,” Lotor said finally. “It was more of a memory, and I suppose I...lost myself in it.” He’d sat up a bit, and toyed with the end of his braid with his free hand. 

“Has this happened to you before?” 

“A few times. Not in a long while, though.” He wouldn’t look at Keith. “I suppose Haggar’s lab has… brought some old memories to the surface.” 

“I’m gonna kill her,” Keith blurted. 

Lotor stilled. “You can’t. She’s too dangerous.”

“She hurt you,” Keith insisted. “I won’t let her hurt you again.” 

“You should go back to bed, Keith. It’s late.”

“Not until I know you’re ok.” 

Lotor laughed humorlessly. “You might have centuries of sleeplessness ahead of you.” Then he adopted a more solemn tone. “I will be fine.” 

“You’re so strong,” Keith said. “I- I don’t know if I could survive even half of what they did to you. But you don’t have to be strong all the time. You don’t have to be strong when it’s just us.” 

Lotor kissed the back of Keith’s hand. “I know.” 

* * *

Lotor had slept, eventually, but Keith woke first. No wonder; the panic attack or whatever it was must have exhausted Lotor.

So Keith let him sleep. He always looked so peaceful when he slept, but Keith supposed that was hardly ever the case. Perhaps Lotor just had a stellar poker face even while he slept. 

Finally, though, Lotor did wake up. 

“Good morning,” Keith said. “Do you feel better?”

“A little,” Lotor admitted. He seemed content to just lay there, snuggled up next to Keith. 

Keith stroked his hair. How was it always so soft? “I think you should give the lab a break for a few days.” 

Lotor frowned. “It’s important, and I’m the only one who can do it.”

“It’s not more important than your wellbeing.”

“The fate of the universe could hang in the balance.”

“Just a few days. She’s waited this long already. A few days shouldn’t make a difference.” 

“Fine,” Lotor said, but unless Keith was mistaken, Lotor’s shoulders slumped -just slightly -in relief. “Three days. What will my Emperor have me do in the meantime?” 

“Not everyone is happy about universal manumission, apparently,” Keith said. “So, we’re going on a diplomatic mission.” 

“I’m shocked,” Lotor said dryly. “Where?”

“Ophus. We’re already on a course there.” 

Lotor sighed. “Should have expected it. I take it you’ve never been?”

“It’s in the heart of the empire!” 

Lotor hummed. “Well, I should warn you that the Ophusians are… an interesting people.” 

“They’re not Galra?” 

“They joined the empire of their own volition, which tells you most of what you need to know, doesn’t it.” 

“Why did they join?” Keith asked. 

“They have the uncanny ability to sense money-making opportunities. I imagine they decided that joining the empire would be profitable.”

“And was it?”

“For them, yes. For their slaves, no.” 

“Hmm.” He’d had some diplomatic experience as a Paladin, but Keith would be the first to admit that it wasn’t his strong suit. “We’ll need a strategy.” 

“When will we reach Ophus?” Lotor asked.

“In a few hours.” 

“Then that’s plenty of time,” Lotor said, then pushed himself upright. He kissed Keith on the cheek. “I’m going to shower. Feel free to join me.” 


	18. Sometimes You Shouldn’t Visit With Old Friends

Lotor had been to Ophus on several occasions over the years. Some visits were sanctioned by his father and some...not. 

It was exactly as he remembered it: ostentatious opulence dripping off every surface. The paving stones of the capital city sparkled with gold dust, and many of the buildings were sheathed in gold. 

The war had been profitable to the Ophusians. It was not surprising; they used their slave labor to mine iron ore and other crucial materials. And slaves were cheap and easy to obtain. 

Or, rather, they had been. 

Even now, with Keith on the ground, the Ophusians continued to flaunt their slaves, delicate creatures in fine clothes and draped in bronze chains. The Ophusians did not keep their own people as slaves, which, before, might have been commendable, but now…

Anger radiated off of Keith, but Lotor didn’t think the Ophusians noticed. The slaves surely did; they had to be attuned to the will of their masters in order to survive. 

Finally, Keith said, “I’m not here for a tour. I’m here to discuss why you have not obeyed my laws.” 

The head Ophusian -some sort of guild master, Lotor thought; he’d never bothered to learn much about the Ophusian government -stopped mid-stride. “Your Majesty?” 

“I have forbidden slavery,” Keith said, “so why do you still keep slaves?”

The Ophusian looked confused. “Surely, that was meant for -for the Galra? Our ways are not your ways, after all, and-“ 

“It was meant for everyone in the Empire,” Keith replied sharply. “The law applies to everyone.” 

“Then let’s discuss this,” The head Ophusian demurred. 

* * *

 

The Ophusians were somewhat reptilian, though they also had feather-like plumage. They did not attain the stature of most Galra, though they did stand taller than Keith -most species would, Lotor had realized. 

So they would not be dangerous, in a fight. They did move slowly, after all, due to the fact that they were ectotherms. And, of course, none of them were allowed to be armed in the presence of the Emperor. 

The conference room they took them to was cool, perhaps to prevent fights from breaking out over policy negotiations. It would work with Ophusians, but Galra maintained their own body heat. 

Perhaps it was rash to begin planning how Lotor might take out the room, if he needed to, but he liked to be prepared. 

Once they were all seated, Keith began, “I will not rescind my decree. Slavery of any type is forbidden within the Empire. Not just to Galra, but to everyone.” 

That did seem to genuinely surprise the Ophusians. “But, Your Majesty,” one began, “we will be unable to maintain ourselves without the slaves.” 

“You seem to be doing more than well right now.”

“Our economy, our entire way of life, will fall apart. This is the way it has been for longer than we have bowed to the Galra. You cannot ask us to-“

“I can, and I will,” Keith said. “You have two choices: follow the law, or leave the Empire.” 

“You would let us do that?”

“Of course. I will not force any non-Galra planets to stay within the Empire. If you persist in keeping slaves, though, there will be consequences.” 

“We have been part of the Empire since before the creation of Voltron.” 

“That does not make you exempt from following the laws of the Empire,” Lotor said. 

“But we are not Galra!” The head Ophusian said, as if that made a difference. “And without our labor force, we could not meet the Empire’s demand for iron ore.” 

“That ore is soaked in the blood of the slaves who die in your mines,” Keith said. “And the Empire’s demand will lessen as soon as the war is over.”

The Ophusian scoffed. “The war will never be over. We know the Galra, even if you do not, Your Majesty.”

“The war will end,” Keith said firmly, “and you have until the end of today to make your decision.” 

He stood and walked out, Lotor on his heels.

Once alone, Keith turned to Lotor. “Did I do okay?”

“You were magnificent,” Lotor assured him. “Very firm, just like I told you.”

“What do you think they’ll do?”

“They’ll choose to stay in the Empire,” Lotor said. “The import taxes would kill their economy faster than having to pay for their labor. And they won’t risk an embargo. Their merchant fleet does not have the capability to break through the line, and they would starve.” 

“You seem certain.” 

Lotor shrugged. “They care more for their wealth than anything else. Threaten that, and they will listen.” 

It was then, of course, that Keith’s comm went off. 

“It’s the flagship,” Keith said, before answering. 

“Sire,” the commander said, “a fleet has just entered orbit. They’ve started firing on us.”

“Shit,” Keith said.

“It’s a distraction, sir. They’ve engaged us to prevent us from stopping several other ships from landing.” 

“Any idea of who it is?” Lotor asked.

“They’re Galra ships, Sir, but they did not attempt to communicate before they opened fire.” 

There were a few possibilities, but Lotor knew in his bones who was behind this. “Do what you can to prevent those ships from entering the atmosphere,” Lotor said. “We’ll handle things on the ground.” 

“Sire?”

“Just do as he says,” Keith snapped. He hung up. “So, you know who it is?”

“I have an idea,” Lotor said. “There are no ground defenses here; we’ll have to find cover.”

“Or engage,” Keith said. 

“We’ll need to know, for certain, who we’re up against.” 

Keith nodded, then began running down the halls.

There was a large square in front of the administrative building, and it was there that Lotor saw a sight he’d hoped to never see again. 

“Shit,” he said eloquently. 

“Looks familiar,” Keith said dryly. 

“Well, that would be because you now own the other one,” Lotor said. He had a small blaster on him, but it wouldn’t do anything against the Sincline that was attempting to land. 

“Do you think this was a trap?” Keith asked, “Or do you think the Ophusians decided to see if Haggar was more accommodating?” 

“It doesn’t matter, does it,” Lotor said, taking aim from the cover of the doorway as the hatch of the Sincline opened. Thankfully, it did only seat two. If all three were here, the third would have to be in another ship. 

If he had to guess, Lotor would say that Axca was still in orbit, coordinating the distraction, while Ezor and Zethrid did whatever Haggar had sent them here to do on the ground. 

“You never really told me what happened to your generals,” Keith said, unsheathing his dagger. It morphed into a sword almost immediately, a wickedly curved thing. It suited Keith. 

“For now, let’s say that we had a disagreement about internal security,” Lotor said. He took shot at Zethrid’s head, but this was not his best weapon. “Wish we had a sniper,” he grumbled. 

“Well, Voltron is back with the Olkari, as far as I know,” Keith said. “So I think it’s just us, for now.” 

“I’ve faced worse odds,” Lotor lied. If there were three people one did not want to make enemies of, it was his three surviving ex-generals. 

“Thought you said you’d never lie to me,” Keith said, slashing at a ripple in the air. 

Ezor appeared, because of course she did, grinning as sweetly as she always did in battle. 

Lotor would have engaged her, too, except, of course, Zethrid. 

It dissolved into complete chaos then, though somehow he managed to end up back-to-back with Keith. 

Lotor didn’t like it; it took all of their attention to keep up with Ezor and Zethrid. If anyone else entered the fray… 

He heard Keith cry out in pain, and it only took that moment of distraction for Zethrid to get past his guard. She was stronger than him, and so he was summarily disarmed. 

He had nothing against fighting dirty, so he bit and clawed whatever parts of Zethrid he could reach. 

Keith’s comm went off. “Sire? We’ve managed to destroy most of the ships in orbit. All but one of the remaining ships have turned back.” 

Zethrid’s arm tightened across Lotor’s ribs; he felt a few crack. 

“Sire?”

“Send ground reinforcements to my location now!” Keith shouted. He’d been backed into a corner by Ezor, though he still held his own. Impressive, really.

Ezor disappeared, only to reappear several feet away, out of Keith’s reach. “Come on, Zethrid, they’ll be here any moment and Axca won’t wait for long.” 

“But-“

Ezor locked eyes with Lotor. “There’ll be another chance for vengeance, won’t there,  _ Lotor _ ?” She hissed venomously. 

“I’ll kill you,” he snarled when Zethrid dropped him. “I swear to the gods I will.”

“So cute,” Ezor cooed, “Little Princey making threats when he can’t even stand.” 

She should have kept her eyes on Keith, though; he was behind her in an instant, his blade across her throat. “Get out of here,” he snapped. “Or I swear to god you won’t leave this planet in one piece.” 

He pushed her forward, towards the ship. 

Ezor and Zethrid exchanged glances. “We’ll meet again,” Zethrid said. 

“I look forward to it,” Lotor said, pushing himself to his feet. 

It took all his will to remain standing until the Sincline was out of sight, but he managed it. 

“Internal security?” Keith asked wryly. “Seemed a bit more personal than that.” 

Lotor laughed- tried to, anyway.

Keith was by his side immediately. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine,” Lotor gritted. A few cracked ribs was  _ nothing _ . Hadn’t even punctured a lung this time. 

Keith crossed his arms. “Yeah, right. Sit down; the reinforcements will be here shortly, and they’ll escort you back to the flagship.”

“But-”

“Sit,” Keith said firmly. “Before you fall over.” 

Lotor did, but only because his knees would have buckled in another few moments anyway. “Happy?”

“I’d be happier if this diplomatic mission hadn’t turned into an attack by people who want you dead.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific, Keith; half the universe wants me dead. Anyway, they weren’t trying to kill me.”

“No?” Keith sat down next to him on the steps. 

Lotor shrugged, then regretted it. “Zethrid could have easily killed me if that’s all they wanted. But they don’t want that. They want vengeance.” 

“Which means?”

“They’ll make me suffer and  _ then  _ kill me. No, you were the real target.” He saw the pieces of Haggar’s plan come into place. Not the whole picture yet, but it was only a matter of time before he could fill in the blanks. “Kill the Emperor after you’ve got most of the empire under control, force another Kral Zera, make sure I can’t attend. Sendak wins, because of course he does, and Haggar uses him to get what she wants.” 

“Which is?”

“Quintessence.” What she had always wanted. Thousands of planets lay dead as proof. At least the Weblums were well-fed. “And power.” 

“I’ll outlive her out of spite alone,” Keith said, taking hold of one of Lotor’s hands. Lotor instantly relaxed. 

It was only the pheromones. It would wear off soon. Instinct could be overridden. He’d be back to normal soon. 

It wasn’t any deeper than that. 

“So, now what?” Keith asked. 

“Close the deal with the Ophusians and then get back to open space. It will be harder for Haggar to attack us there.” 

Keith nodded. “I’ll stay with you until the reinforcements get here.” 

“Take guards with you, at least,” Lotor said, because he knew Keith was going to be stubborn about him receiving medical attention. 

“Of course. I’m not reckless.” 

Lotor really wished his ribs weren’t broken; the effort of not laughing was monumental. 


	19. Self Care is Not A Priority In The Galra Empire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor’s Perspective on Things in Not Necessarily the Truth But It’s What We Got

Closing the deal on Ophus was not an ordeal; Lotor had a head for political strategy, and it all played out exactly as they had discussed.

One less thing to worry about. 

Keith was not surprised to find Lotor already raising hell on the flagship. In fact, one of the bridge crew caught up to him on his way to the bridge. 

“Sire?”

“Lieutenant Urvok, right?”

“Yes, Sire. The Prince-Consort is refusing medical attention.”

“Of course he is,” Keith muttered. “Has he been organizing the transport ships like I asked?” 

“Yes, Sire. He’s quite diligent.” 

Well, there wasn’t really anything to be done; Lotor had quite the stubborn streak in him, and this was not the hill Keith was going to die on. “Is that all?”

“Yes, Sire.” 

That was not all. By the time Keith got to the bridge, Lotor was frowning at a projected map, clearly looking for something. 

“Unless you managed to plant a tracker on one of them, you’re not going to find them that way,” Keith said quietly.

Lotor’s frown deepened. “I know, but- I should have… I was useless in that fight.” 

“You weren’t.”

“Of course I was. Just a distraction to keep Zethrid from engaging you as well. Anyone could do that.” 

Keith scoffed. “Anyone else would have been thrown around like a ragdoll.”

“And yet it was not a decisive victory.”

“No,” Keith admitted. “But chasing after them now would be a mistake, even if we knew where they were or where they were going.” 

“We could have used them to find Haggar. Turned her own tricks against her.” 

“And possibly fall into a trap? You know better than that.” Keith sighed. “Look, maybe it wasn’t a decisive victory, but in a few days when you’re healed, we can go back to the training room, and next time we face them, we’ll be ready.” 

“I’ve known them for years. Centuries. If I’m not ready to face them now, then I never will be.” 

It all sort of fell into place for Keith then. How would he feel if, for whatever reason, Voltron did turn against him, in the same way that Lotor’s generals turned against him? Facing them across the battlefield might be necessary, but it wouldn’t be  _ easy _ . “You still care about them.” 

“Of course I care!” Lotor said, loud enough that the bridge crew turned in their direction. Keith glared at them until they went back to work. 

“They were the only people I’ve ever trusted! And what did they do? As soon as I made one mistake, they turned against me. Shot me in the fucking back!” Lotor continued, quieter but no less heated. “I felt safe with them for the first time in my life, and then that witch used them, like she uses everyone, and they can’t fucking see it-!”

Keith was startled to see Lotor crying, especially in front of the bridge crew. He still looked pretty when he cried, but Keith had only seen him cry the once, and this- This was…

Keith didn’t know what to do. He could barely handle his own emotions, much less anyone else’s. “Come on,” Keith said quietly, taking Lotor by the hand. 

He led Lotor back to their suite and sat him on the bed, then, after a moment of thought, sat down next to him. Lotor immediately grabbed him and held onto him, sobbing  _ hard,  _ like he needed this.

He probably did; Lotor had a lot of things to work through. 

Keith didn’t know what to do, so he just held onto Lotor and let him cry. 

“I’m sorry,” Lotor said finally, when he was done. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“Hey, hey. No. You have nothing to be sorry for. Here, I’ll be right back.” Keith got up and came back moments later with a glass of water and some space-ibuprofen. He got headaches from crying sometimes, and he imagined Lotor’s ribs were still sore. 

Lotor took the painkillers without question. He wouldn’t look at Keith, even after he drained the glass.

“Feeling better?” Keith asked finally. 

“A little,” Lotor said. “Empty, mostly.” 

“You want to talk about it?” 

Lotor laughed bitterly. “Do I ever?” 

“Well, I’m here for you.”

“It’s not supposed to be like this. You’re the fucking emperor; I should be taking care of you, not the other way around.” 

“I married you. I don’t really know what it means for Galra, but on Earth, it means I take care of you when you need it, and you take care of me when I need it. End of story. Whatever you need, I’m here.”

“For how long?” Lotor asked suddenly, breathlessly. Fearfully.

“Forever. For as long as you’ll have me. Jesus Christ, Lotor, all I’ve ever wanted was someone who’d stay by me when I had issues. The least I can do is return the favor.” 

“If I hadn’t just cried myself out, I’d be crying right now,” Lotor said. He sniffed. “You have no idea what it means to me that you’d say that, and mean it.” 

“Of course I mean it.”

Lotor nodded, then sighed, like he’d made up his mind. “While I was in exile, I ended up recruiting four very promising hybrids. One was one of the witch’s experiments, two I found on the slave block, and one was languishing as a private under some idiot commander. They eventually became my generals. I know you’ve faced them...before. Thayserix, for sure. The Ulippa system. Puig. So you know that I chose the very best.” 

Keith nodded. How could he forget? Those battles were during his tenure as the Black Paladin. 

“We were a good team. They had enough strategic knowledge and self-reliance that I could simply order them to do something and know it would get done, that I had enough time to devote to more personal projects.”

“The Rift,” Keith said.

“Among other things,” Lotor said with a nod. “But we were not friends. The closest thing I had was Narti. I had known her the longest, and she knew most of my secrets. And I knew… I knew her wishes. I knew that she’d rather die than become Haggar’s puppet once more. So.” 

“You killed her.”

Lotor nodded once again. “We had just returned from meeting with Haggar and my father. He’d dismissed me, back to my exile, and I had pretended to be distraught, but I was secretly pleased. Fighting Voltron was a waste of my time, but it kept the Empire occupied, and that left me free to do whatever I wanted. I had taken Narti with me, but she… She didn’t come back right. I wasn’t even sure something was wrong until Haggar showed up at my secret facility. I put two and two together, and when I looked… Whoever it was, it wasn’t Narti, anymore. So I did what I had to do.” 

Something subconscious stirred in Keith’s mind, a great leviathan close to surfacing. The thought never did. And he brushed it off as deja vu. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t imagine that.”

“The others were not as understanding as you are,” Lotor said dryly. “There wasn’t time to explain, and things might have been alright if we had managed to go through the Rift.”

“But you didn’t.” 

“No.” 

“Will you try again?”

“I want to- No, I  _ need  _ to -but I can’t. All of my research was destroyed, and I have no way of refining quintessence since all of my facilities were destroyed or repossessed. Haggar controls them now. And I’m not even sure why it didn’t work. So. There’s no point in trying again until then anyway.” He sighed. “The worst part is that I can’t even really find it within me to blame them for shooting me in the back. They were going to turn me over to my father to be killed, and I can’t even be angry at them.”

“But you are angry?”

“At myself, mostly.” He smiled, a little sadly. “Thank you for listening. I think that’s what I really needed, after all.” 

Keith kissed his cheek. “Anytime. I meant what I said, about being here for you.” 

“I know.” 

* * *

That wasn’t the end of it. Of course it wasn’t. One good cry session couldn’t erase thousands of years of pent-up emotions. It took a few days to come to a head, during which Lotor had taken to sleeping as little as  possible. He was always busy with something, never spending a moment where he wasn’t occupied, often with multiple projects, like a bizarre type of mania. 

Keith was familiar with the driving force of Lotor’s actions: the need to have one’s mind completely engaged, in order not to dwell on...well, anything. Looking back on it now, Keith realized that’s what he’d done in the desert post-Kerberos. Made up something to take his mind away. 

Only he hadn’t made it up, and now here he was.

If Lotor couldn’t find some project to work on, he was in the training room, pushing himself harder than he should have. He still hadn’t seen the doctor, though it had been several days since Ophus. Keith would probably have to knock him unconscious if he wanted that to happen and it seemed extreme. 

Last resort, then.

Keith stood in the doorway of the training room, watching Lotor fight against three simulated opponents. He was winning, too, and while that was impressive, Keith happened to know that Lotor had already been in here for over an hour, and he could see the exhaustion written in the lines of Lotor’s body: the way he now moved jerkily with a parry, the fight to keep his blade up…

“End training sequence,” Keith said finally.

Lotor actually flinched in surprise, and that, more than anything, concerned Keith. Lotor was always aware of his surroundings.  _ Always _ . 

“This isn’t working,” Keith said. 

Lotor wouldn’t look at him. “I was winning.”

“That isn’t what I meant.” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know.” Keith sighed. “Look, while I was in the Blade, I had this friend who told me that Galra have two ways of working through their problems: fighting and fucking. Fighting obviously isn’t working for you.” 

Lotor scoffed. “No offense, Keith, but I have never been less turned on in my life.” 

“That’s probably because you haven’t been sleeping, you idiot! Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re doing, because I do. I do it all the time, too. But it’s not good for me, and it’s definitely not good for you.” Keith sighed again. “Look, I’m running out of options here. I want to help you, whether you want it or not, but I don’t know what to do, ok?” 

Lotor exhaled slowly. It was not really a sigh, more like an admission of defeat. “Ok.” 

“Just tell me what you need.”

In lieu of answering, Lotor sheathed his sword and stepped closer, until he was close enough to embrace Keith. He even rubbed his cheek on the top of Keith’s head, and Keith realized he was basically married to a large purple space cat. 

It was still so weird to think of himself as  _ married _ . 

Keith felt the tension leaving Lotor’s body, and, actually, Keith felt way better, too. Magical stuff, those pheromones. 

“It’s the pheromones, right?” Keith asked. “Have you thought about what we’re gonna do when they wear off?” 

“We’ll deal with it when it happens,” Lotor said. 

“You’ve done like, three months worth of work, so we’re taking the rest of the day off,” Keith said finally. “I know you don’t want to let your mind wander, but you can’t keep this up forever.”

“What did you go through, to have such insight?” 

“The first time Shiro disappeared, when they told me he was dead. I didn’t believe them, but after months where he didn’t come back, I couldn’t- So I did everything but think. That’s what you’re doing now.”

“It hurts so fucking much,” Lotor said, so quietly Keith almost didn’t hear. 

“I know,” Keith said. “I know. You’re exhausted, so here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to get the doctor and have him look at your ribs, and then I’m going to see if he’ll give you something to help you sleep. You’ll feel better if you sleep.”

“I- I don’t want to dream.” 

“I know. But you need to sleep. Let me take care of you.” 


	20. *Marvin Gaye Voice*: Sexual Healing

For the first time since Ophus, Lotor did not dream. He did not dream of Axca’s face as she shot him, he did not dream of killing Narti, he did not dream of his father.

There was nothing. 

Waking up was still a relief, if only because waking up meant he got to see Keith, and that was… That was something he could never admit, except maybe to himself, because someone would try to use it against him, but he felt it, nonetheless. 

Keith was still asleep, and he looked like some sort of ancient spirit, peaceful and beautiful and unburdened, his black hair fanned out like an aura. 

Keith had been right. He wasn’t always, but he had been right about this. Sleeping well for once had made him feel better.

It wouldn’t last; his Altean half meant that it was easy for him to build up a resistance to most medications, and he’d been down this road before. It would be a year, maybe, before the sleeping pills stopped working, and then he’d be right back where he’d been yesterday, haunted by the things he could never seem to get over, no matter what he did. 

Keith stirred, then woke up completely. “Good morning. Sleep well?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Told you,” Keith said with a smile and a kiss. Always a good way to start the day. 

“You did,” Lotor admitted. “My Emperor, in all his infinite wisdom-”

“Well, if you’re gonna be like that…” Keith said with a grin, before burying his hands in Lotor’s hair and pulling him in for a kiss. 

Keith was pressed up against Lotor’s body, so Lotor could feel the hardness between his legs -an interesting human idiosyncrasy; Keith referred to the phenomenon as “morning wood” - and that plus the makeout reminded Lotor that he hadn’t touched Keith like this since before Opus.

Keith’s friend from the Blade was correct, of course; Galra did tend to work their problems out either by fighting or fucking. Violence was almost as good as sex, after all, and sometimes the highs were higher, even if the lows were lower. 

And Keith had been right, too; he couldn’t pour everything he felt into meaningless violence against training programs. 

It wasn’t a good idea, and Lotor could have resisted the impulse and had slow, sickly sweet sex that made him cry afterwards instead, except. 

Except Keith caught his lower lip between his teeth, sharply, then pulled away. He grinned, like he knew exactly what Lotor was thinking -maybe he did; Keith was a master at reading people, too, even if he didn’t think so -and said, “You know, I can take whatever you give me.” 

Two could play this game. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.” 

Keith rolled his hips just so, and Lotor was getting hard so fast it almost hurt. A good hurt. “Then let me make it clear: I know you’ve been holding back. I’ve seen you fight; I know you can fuck me harder than you actually do. So do it.” 

Lotor had Keith pinned underneath him almost before he was aware of moving. Keith struggled, playfully at first, then earnestly, but as strong as Keith was, Lotor was stronger. “You will regret this,” Lotor hissed, a last warning.

Keith grinned, just as ferally as Lotor felt. “Make me.” 

Bold words from a man who was pinned to a mattress and couldn’t move even if he wanted to. 

Lotor realized Keith was, unfortunately, still wearing clothes. He’d have to move in order to-

Actually… 

He unsheathed his claws and shredded Keith’s sleepwear. Keith stared wide-eyed, like he always did when Lotor used his claws for something. 

Lotor smirked in satisfaction at the hitch in Keith’s breath. 

“Is that all you’ve got?” Keith asked, his eyes flicking up to meet Lotor’s. 

Lotor growled. “Not even close.” He bit just to one side of the pulse point in Keith’s neck, hard enough that it left Keith gasping and flailing -as much as he could, anyway. 

Lotor continued leaving vicious-looking bite marks on both sides of Keith’s neck, careful not to leave them too high up. 

When he finally sat back to admire his work, Keith was flushed most of the way down his chest, something Lotor really liked about humans in general and Keith in specific. Truth be told, he liked pretty much everything about Keith, and if humanity had been involved in creating Keith, then surely it couldn’t be so bad. 

Some of the deeper bites oozed blood, shockingly red against Keith’s pale skin. “You look good in red,” Lotor murmured. “Wish I could’ve seen it.” 

Keith’s eyes fluttered open at that. “Fuck! Just- just touch me, already.” 

Lotor did, trailing his claws lightly over Keith’s stomach, feeling him tremble with the effort of not bucking up into his touch. His claws left red lines in their wake, not quite puncturing skin, but Keith seemed to like it, and that was the important thing. 

Lotor retrieved the lube -they’d need a fresh bottle soon -and slicked up his fingers. He made sure that Keith saw that his claws were still unsheathed, tapped one claw very lightly against that terribly sensitive area behind Keith’s cock, sheathed the claws on that hand, then pressed two fingers into Keith. 

Keith arched off the bed as far as he could with a choked-off scream, then collapsed. He hadn’t cum from that, but it was a very close thing. “You… dick,” Keith wheezed, when he could breathe again. 

“I wouldn’t try to finger you open with my claws,” Lotor said, “but I can tell you like the idea, don’t you?” He punctuated his question with a sharp thrust against Keith’s prostate, which only made him flail more. “Danger turns you on, doesn’t it?”

“Fuck you,” Keith panted. 

Lotor licked up some of the blood on Keith’s neck and pulled his fingers out. Keith wanted rough? Then that’s what he was going to get. 

He flipped Keith over without warning, one hand pressed between his shoulder blades, the other pulling Keith’s hips up off the mattress.  _ Perfect _ . 

The slope of Keith’s back was quite nice like this, deliciously arched. Keith struggled, because surrender wasn’t in his nature, and Lotor let him, because that was half the fun. 

It was easy to grind his cock against Keith’s ass -perfect angle; they should have done this before, but Keith really had gotten him hooked on kissing -and that made Keith moan and try to thrust back, only Lotor’s grip was firm and steady. 

“Behave,” Lotor whispered before nipping Keith’s earlobe. 

“Or what?” Keith panted. 

Lotor thrust into Keith with one steady motion in answer. It was incredible, because Lotor was usually quite thorough in preparing Keith -he liked watching Keith writhe on his fingers -but Keith had asked for rough. Oh, he’d done enough that Keith would remain uninjured, but he’d feel it for the next week if Lotor had any say in the matter. 

Keith didn’t have any snappy comebacks for that; in fact, he seemed to have trouble remembering how to breathe, much less speak. 

Still, Keith did not wait very long before he demanded, “Fuck me already!” 

“Are you sure?” Lotor asked, more because it was fun to tease Keith than out of any real concern; Keith was pretty aware of his own limits, at least in regards to sex. Still, Lotor rolled his hips slowly, teasingly, and Keith whined. 

“Yes, dammit! Just fu-“ 

Whatever else Keith had intended to say was lost as Lotor started fucking him in earnest. Keith had been right, and Lotor had been holding back previously. He so rarely got to experience slow, sweet sex that it was a treat with Keith, but if  _ this _ was what Keith wanted… 

It did appeal to some deep part of his Galra half, and the fact that it was  _ Keith _ under him only spurred him on.

It was endlessly pleasurable, and he lost track of everything -time, his problems, his responsibilities,  _ everything _ -except for the wordless noises Keith made and the fire building in his veins, like the best kind of drug, but infinitely more potent. 

Keith went completely lax at some point, only Lotor wasn’t done yet, and he made no sounds of protest when Lotor dragged one of his arms behind him and hauled him up, using it as leverage to keep Keith’s body flush with his as he changed angles. 

He came shortly after, and it was like nothing else existed, only him and Keith and their pleasure. Sex had never been quite this good before; it had certainly never cleared his mind like this, leaving it completely empty for once in his life. 

The afterglow was even better, floating adrift in a sea of hazy, sated pleasure, Keith next to him, and the universe was quiet and peaceful and faraway. 

* * *

Finally, he had the energy to speak. “Well? Is that what you wanted?”

“I think you broke me,” Keith said, his voice muffled by the pillows. He hadn’t managed to rollover yet, and still lay face down where he’d collapsed. 

“Told you,” Lotor said.

“I mean, I came twice, so it was good. Just… a little  _ too _ good.” 

“I didn’t think it that was possible for you.” 

“Well, now we know. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep for 47 years.” 

That sounded like a good idea, but Lotor always tried to be considerate for Keith. “Let me clean you up first,” he said, although he did wonder if his legs were going to work. 

Miraculously, they did, and he returned shortly with a damp washcloth.

He wiped Keith down gently and  efficiently, though Keith did bat his hand away when he tried to clean between his legs. “Too sensitive,” he huffed. 

Lotor set the washcloth aside and kissed one of the bite marks he’d left. 

And then he realized something. 

He wouldn’t have taken care of anyone else like this. He wouldn’t have let anyone else see him like this. And it wasn’t just that he trusted Keith, though he did, above all others. 

It was something else, something far scarier, something he had far less experience with. 

It was something quite a lot like love. 

_ He loved Keith _ . 

He couldn’t try to deny that anymore, couldn’t hide from it. There was nothing left to do but accept it. 

He curled up next to Keith, pulling him close. He wasn’t ready to say it just yet, but he could think it all he liked:  _ I love you _ . 

He drifted off a few moments later, happy and content and next to the man he loved. 


	21. Facing Your Feelings Is Hard; Just Die Instead

As soon as Keith was sure Lotor was sound asleep, he wriggled out of his grasp. 

Maybe he was imagining it. He’d only been kind of awake anyway, when Lotor said it, so maybe he’d said something else and Keith had merely misheard. 

But what on Earth sounded remotely like “I love you”? 

So maybe Lotor had said it. 

But he certainly hadn’t meant it. 

Had he?

No, of course not. That would be- ridiculous. Insane. 

What had he said to Lance, before the wedding? That Lotor was merely trying to stay on his good side, because he was the emperor? 

So maybe that was why he’d said it. 

But a trans-reality ship was one thing. This -and Keith couldn’t even think the words -was something else entirely. 

He pulled on clothes. His limbs barely worked, and he was definitely sore, but his panic overrode all that. He needed- He needed to  _ fight.  _ Work off all this emotion and make sense of it all.

Because, if he thought about it, then-

That was not a road he wanted to go down. 

* * *

Lotor woke refreshed, but a little disappointed. Keith was absent, his side of the bed cold.

When had he left? And where had he gone? 

Lotor wasn’t worried about Keith’s safety, but he did want to make sure Keith was alright. He’d been a little rougher than he should have been, probably, and some of those bite marks were-

Well, they were really hot, but also kind of unintentional, and he wanted to make sure Keith wasn’t in a lot of pain or regret. 

When he dressed and tracked Keith down, he was somewhat surprised and impressed to find Keith in the training room. 

He always liked watching Keith, and he allowed himself a few moments to do so now, before announcing his presence. 

He waited until Keith defeated the simulation- a lower level than Keith normally used, but perhaps this was merely a warm-up -to say, “Good morning.”

Keith, his back still to Lotor, tensed suddenly. Not out of surprise, but something else, like he didn’t want to face Lotor.

“I-“ Keith began, but his voice wavered, unsteady. “You should go.”

Lotor blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You should go,” Keith said more forcefully.

“I don’t understand,” Lotor said. “Is this about last night? I probably shouldn't have been so rough, so if it’s an apology you want, you have it.”

Keith’s shoulders fell. “It’s not about that. But you promised me that you wouldn’t try to manipulate me, so you should go.” 

Manipulate him? “Keith-“

“Just get out,” Keith said, quietly, coldly. 

Lotor swallowed. “As you wish, Your Majesty,” he said formally, before turning on his heel and leaving.

* * *

Keith stayed in the training room until he was too tired to hold up his sword anymore.        

It was the only thing he could do. He certainly didn’t want to think about it, and now he had no one to talk to. 

Sure, it was almost time for his daily chat with someone from the castle-ship, but… He couldn’t talk to any of them like this. Whatever they had to say, he didn’t want to hear it. 

He knew Lotor had taken the recently completed second Sincline and not much else with him; the control tower hand informed him of the unauthorized take-off and he’d told them to let Lotor go.

As he had to. 

He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. It was better like this, he knew, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. 

And it did hurt. It hurt the same way it hurt when anyone else left him. 

But he couldn’t have let Lotor stay and manipulate him like that. So. 

He did what he had to do.

There was a knock on the door. He wiped his face and smoothed his hair back, but he probably still looked like he’d gone ten rounds with Zarkon himself. “Come in.”

It was Lieutenant Urvok. “Sire, there was an unauthorized departure from the main hangar bay today, and-“

“I know,” Keith said, trying not to grit his teeth. “Are you here to tell me something I don’t already know?”

“The commander has appointed me to be his onboard liaison, now that the Prince-Consort is away on...a diplomatic mission?”

“The Prince-Consort is merely following my orders,” Keith snapped. He really did not want to talk about this anymore. “So what exactly does an onboard liaison do?”

“Communication between you, Sire, and the crew, to ensure that the flagship goes where you need it and when. Also, ensuring that the ship is supplied and up to your standards.”

“So you’re like a secretary?”

“...Yes, Sire.” 

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose. This really was the last thing he needed. Hell, he hadn’t even needed to talk to Lotor for him to know what he needed to do and when. Lotor just...knew. 

“Sire, I’ve also been appointed to the role of liaison for military intelligence.”

“There are spies?”

“Of course, Sire. Military intelligence has been working on finding out which operatives are loyal to you, and which are not, and they think they’ve got it sorted. The spies were Haggar’s domain, before she became obsessed with-“

“Great,” Keith said. “That’s super.” He really wanted to nap, and ideally, when he woke up, he’d discover this had all been a weird dream. “Let me know if anything important happens.”

“As you command, Sire.” He was almost out the door when Urvok turned back. “Sire, should I tell the networks to keep an eye out for the Prince-Consort? To ensure his safety?”

Was Urvok more perceptive than he was letting on? Probably, unless the ship’s commander had given him this role because the commander had gotten annoyed by Urvok’s need to stick his nose into everyone’s business. “Yes,” Keith said finally. He still felt... _ something _ for Lotor. He didn’t want him getting hurt. “Do that.”


	22. Deleted Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a scene that I wrote but never posted when I originally published this work. I still kind of have mixed feelings about it, but I thought I might as well post it here.

It had been almost a month, and the abandoned space station felt as close to home as it ever would.

Not that Lotor had a home. Not that he needed one. 

The space station had been abandoned over a century ago, and while sections had been damaged by asteroids, significant portions were still in good repair. Oh, sure, he had to keep the lights low in order to conserve energy- the solar panels had taken the brunt of the asteroid impacts -but life support functioned fine, and there were enough pressurized sections that he didn’t feel cooped up.

Besides, it wasn’t the worst place he’d ever lived, and he was rarely here anyway. 

But he’d needed a base of operations after Keith had- had quasi-exiled him, and this place was as good as any. 

From there, he had figured out his next steps.

Even if he couldn’t be at Keith’s side, he could still make sure Keith succeeded as Emperor. After all, the universe was a little better with Keith in it. 

So, he’d spent most the month negotiating peaceful transitions of power on planets that wished to leave the Empire, or negotiating alliances among commanders who were still on the fence, or whatever else he could do that would help Keith. 

He spent the rest of his time here, in the space station- once a research facility of some sort- planning. 

Thinking.

Pining. 

He knew it was pathetic to pine after someone who clearly did not feel the same way he did, but he couldn’t help it, and there was no point trying. 

He looked at the blood test results again. The first time he’d done the test, he’d thought there had been some sort of mistake -a miscalibration perhaps -but he’d run diagnostics and recalibrated and run the test again. And again. 

Everything came back perfectly normal. 

He was quite used to having blood tests done, and he had, eventually, memorized his normal ranges of everything. A blood test was the easiest diagnostic to run, and the best early warning for any other health problems that might crop up. 

So he couldn’t understand why everything was normal.             

He still felt like he was under the effects of the pheromones, and there should have been some sign of them still in his blood. Not the pheromones themselves, of course, but corresponding hormonal responses, certainly. 

Instead, there was nothing. 

And that meant…

That meant that the pheromones had worn off, stopped affecting him… When? Before Keith made him leave? In reality, they should have worn off shortly after the diplomatic mission on Ophus.

But he certainly hadn’t felt any different then. Looking back…. Looking back, he could not pinpoint the exact moment he fell for Keith. Before the wedding, certainly, but when? The night he’d let Keith see his scars? Even earlier? 

The entire time, he’d assumed it was the pheromones that were making him feel that way. It felt good -great -to be with Keith. To even be close to him. 

And it was rare, but not impossible, in hybrids. 

But he’d drawn the first samples of his blood just after he’d left the flagship, and they were exactly the same as they were now: completely normal. 

Which meant… 

Which meant everything he felt was not because of the pheromones, if they’d ever been present at all. He couldn’t blame some primal reaction for how he felt. 

Only himself. 

Which meant: his sleepy revelation during his last night with Keith had been entirely correct. He loved Keith. He was in love with Keith.

He knew what had happened to his mother, back on Daibazaal, and, when he was younger, he hadn’t understood why his father had done what he’d done. 

But now? Now he did. He understood, even if he didn’t agree. But maybe, if he were in the same situation, and the only way to save Keith was to take him through that rift…would he do it?

He couldn’t say for sure.


	23. D*ck Measuring Contests in Space

Keith had managed to keep himself busy with this and that for an entire month, and he had to admit, it did feel good to be doing something, for his actions to make noticeable improvements across the Empire. 

It kept him too busy to examine his feelings, and that was a good thing too. 

He was not currently on the flagship, and the change of scenery was nice. It was good to become more familiar with other ships of the fleet.

This was was smaller, faster, more lightly armed than the flagship.

And that wouldn’t have been a problem, except that they were being hailed.

“A Galra ship, Sire,” the comms person said. 

“We don’t have any ships of that size out this way,” Keith said, looking at the holographic map. “Patch it through.” 

They did, and Sendak’s face appeared on the screen.

Keith bit back his curses. Instead, he straightened his back and squared his shoulders, getting every inch of height he could. “Commander Sendak,” he greeted him formally. “Have you decided to beg my forgiveness?”

“Galra do not beg,” Sendak replied. “Though I’m sure you wouldn’t know that. I have heard stories about your  _ esteemed _ Prince-Consort.” 

“Some rumors are completely false. Too bad the ones about your death weren’t.” Really, they should have killed Sendak when they had the chance. It was probably spite alone that kept him alive when the cryopod had been ejected. “What do you want, then, Sendak?”

“This is a formality,” Sendak said. “I will give you opportunity to surrender to me, and in return, I will make sure your death is a quick and honorable one.” 

“Surrender?” Keith asked. “Galra do not surrender.”

“And I’m sure you wouldn’t know that either,” Sendak sneered. “Very well. It’s clear that you have refused my offer. The High Priestess will be pleased; she has wanted a chance to study more of your kind.” 

The screen went dark.

“Shields, now!” Keith said, seconds before the ship rocked with the first hit from the cannons. 

Refusing Sendak was probably either very brave or very stupid. Too bad Lotor wasn’t here to tell him which. 

This ship wasn’t designed to withstand a prolonged engagement with the one Sendak was on. The shields would last fifteen minutes, tops. There were no reinforcements out this far.

The bridge crew was unconcerned. After all, dying in the name of the Emperor would be an honorable death. 

Keith did not particularly want to die. Not here, not at Sendak’s hands, not on the witch’s table. 

There was one thing he could do. After all, they’d been looking for Sendak since the Kral Zera. As long as he was out there, he was a danger, not only to Keith and the Empire, but to Voltron. 

“Urvok.”

“Sire?”

“I want you to take the Sincline and get out of range of the cannons. Then I want you to activate the distress beacon.” Only a few people knew the frequency for it; if Voltron was in range, they’d get it. “Speak to Voltron, tell them what happened here.”

“Sire, I-“

“Captain Urvok,” Keith said, with renewed urgency. “This is an important task.” He lowered his voice. “You are the only one on this ship I trust to do this.”

“Lieutenant, Sire,” Urvok corrected meekly.

“Not any more,  _ Captain _ ,” Keith said. 

“You should come with me,” Urvok said. “It’s dangerous; you could be-“

Keith shook his head. “It’s me Sendak’s after. He won’t stop until he has me.” He made another decision, and unclipped his knife from his belt. “If you see my husband, give him this for me. I want him to have it, if something happens.”

He was surprised that his own voice was steady through all of the emotions that came with thinking of Lotor. Urvok looked a little misty-eyed. 

“Vrepit sa, Sire,” Urvok said.

“Now go,” Keith said, just as another direct hit rocked the ship. He turned his attention back to the bridge crew. “Status?”


	24. Lotor is Kind of a Jerk, But That’s Bc Keith is In Danger, So I’m Going to Give Him A Pass

Lance was returning from a fairly routine mission when the Red Lion’s scanners picked up something. 

Another ship; he hailed it. 

To his surprise, it was Lotor, who also looked surprised.

“Paladin,” Lotor greeted. “Out a little far, aren’t you?”

Lotor, frankly, looked terrible, which secretly delighted Lance. Although, even in this state, Lotor was a solid 8. 

“The castle’s not far, and I could say the same for you. Last I heard, Keith was halfway across the galaxy.” 

“Hm.” 

“You haven’t heard from him, either?” Lance asked. “He hasn’t spoken to us in, like, a month. Is he ok?”

“I suppose he must be; the Empire would be in an uproar if something had happened.” 

“What, did he kick you out? Is that why you’re out here? Having marital disagreements already? Last I saw, you were inseparable.”

“Things change,” Lotor said stiffly. “It’s none of your business.”

“Keith’s my friend,” Lance said, “and if you think i didn’t mean what I said when I told you that if you hurt him, I’d gut you like a fish and then let vultures eat your insides, you’ve got another thing coming.” 

“How incredibly violent of you,” Lotor said dryly. “For the record, I never intentionally hurt Keith.” 

Lance latched onto that. “But you did hurt him!”

Lotor grimaced. “I’m not sure what I did, actually. He just -One day he told me he thought I was manipulating him, and that he wanted me gone. So I left. That was a month ago, and I assume you haven’t spoken to him since.” 

“Oh,” Lance said. “But why would he think that?”

“I don’t know,” Lotor said with a sigh. “Something I did, or said, or… I keep going over it, and…” He blinked, sitting up straighter. “Fuck!” 

“What?” 

“I know what it is. The worst part is that I must have done it accidentally. I didn’t even realize I said it out loud, but I must have.” He buried his face in his hands, and his shoulders started shaking with hysterical laughter. “All this because I realized I loved him.” 

“ **_What_ ** ?” Lance squawked. 

“I realized that I love him,” Lotor repeated. “I must have said it out loud. I didn’t mean to, but…” He shrugged. “You aren’t going to want to hear why.” 

Fair enough. It was probably some freaky alien sex thing. And it involved Keith. 

“But it doesn’t matter,” Lotor continued. “He obviously doesn’t feel the same way, so I’m merely respecting his wishes.” 

“No offense, Lotor, but you’re an idiot if you think Keith doesn’t look at you like you hung the stars in the fucking sky solely for him. He’s head-over-heels for you. He’s just...not good with feelings.” 

“That’s an understatement,” Lotor said. “No wonder we got along so well.” 

“Yeah, well, you’re married, so, hopefully, you know.” Then Lance frowned. “Are you still married?”

“At least until Keith realizes he doesn’t need me.” 

“Of course he does!” 

“You are a romantic at heart, aren’t you?” Lotor sighed. “The reality is that Keith doesn’t need me. He’s exceeded my expectations at every turn, and he has the makings of a great Emperor. But he will be great without me, and he’ll realize that before too long. After that, I suppose he’ll cast me off to one side.”

“Keith’s not like that,” Lance protested. “He’s a good guy. When Shiro came back, he could have told me to get lost -that’s what I wanted, anyway -but instead, he made me feel needed. Wanted.”

“And how long was it before Shiro was able to pilot any Lion?” Lotor asked. “Voltron did need you then, as it needs you now. But Keith will get along fine without me.” 

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Lance said. “But we’re gonna have to continue this conversation later.” Red was picking up a distress beacon. He looked at the data more closely. “Fuck.” 

“It’s Keith,” Lotor said. “Isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Lance said. “Just- follow me back to castle, and we’ll see what’s going on.” 

Lotor hesitated, then nodded. “I’ll see you there.” 

* * *

Lotor had wanted to go directly to the origin of the beacon, but common sense won out. He had no idea, after all, what had caused Keith to activate in the first place, and it was best to have as many of the facts as possible before jumping into something. 

He had barely landed in the castle’s hangar before he felt a ripple of energy, the one that meant a wormhole was being created. Going right to the source, then. 

But, at least, if they ended up in the middle of a battle, they did have Voltron. 

They did not end up in the middle of a battle, but a few minutes later, the paladins came into the hangar bay.

“We found the source of the beacon,” the Green Paladin said. “It’s from Keith’s Sincline, as you know, but-“

Lotor raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“The BLIP wasn’t consistent with Keith’s readings. I don’t think it’s Keith.” 

Wonderful. 

The hangar doors opened, and the second Sincline ship landed next to Lotor’s. 

The pilot climbed out, with far less grace than Keith, and Lotor could not stop himself from slamming the pilot into the decking. “Where is he?” He hissed. 

The pilot, who Lotor now recognized as Lieutenant Urvok, was completely limp underneath him, not even attempting to fight. Which was probably a good thing; Lotor might have torn his throat out otherwise. 

A Galra-tech arm pulled him off of Urvok, and it was all Lotor could do to not attack the former Champion. 

Urvok climbed slowly to his feet, his eyes fixed warily on Lotor. “His ship was attacked by Sendak,” he said.

“And you _ left him _ ?” 

“He ordered me to go,” Urvok said defensively. “He said- He said to give you this.” He held out Keith’s knife. “He said he wanted you to have it, if something happened.” 

Fucking Sendak. Of course it was Sendak. 

“Nothing’s going to happen to Keith,” Lance said. “Because we’re gonna go get him, right?” 

A reasonable suggestion. That was probably what Keith had planned on, by sending Urvok. 

“Let’s discuss this, Lance,” Shiro said coldly. 

Lotor pried himself out of Shiro’s grip. “Are you kidding me? You are going to discuss this while Keith’s life is in danger? I know you’ve faced Sendak before,  _ Champion _ , so you must be aware of what he can do. And now he is allied with Haggar, and I know that you are aware of what she can do. Of what she will do to Keith.” 

Shiro’s expression did not change. “We cannot risk Voltron on this.”

“You’ve risked Voltron for less. Far less.” 

“What is going on here?” Princess Allura said, coming into the hangar. 

“Sendak has Keith,” Lotor said, “or he will before much longer.” 

“Oh,” she said. “And I suppose you want to go get him.” 

“Does that surprise you, princess? Are you honestly shocked that I can care for someone and something other than myself?” 

She did not reply, but her silence spoke multitudes. 

“What is your problem with me?” He asked. “Is it such a large problem, that you have no problem sacrificing Keith’s life for it?”

“It’s not that,” she protested. 

“I can no more deny the fact of my Galra blood than you can deny the fact of my Altean blood! I wish I were completely Altean! But adults cannot afford to live in delusion, Allura. Altea is gone. I’m sorry my father destroyed it, but I can’t bring Altea back, no more than you can. Letting Keith die because of your prejudices will solve nothing, and it make me your enemy.”

“Is that a threat?”

“A promise.” He bared his teeth, more snarl than smile. “But Voltron is not yours, and you are the princess of nothing beyond this castle. I don’t need your agreement. Only your leader’s.”

He turned back to Shiro. “If Keith dies -and I do believe that if Sendak doesn’t kill him, Haggar will -then everything that he has accomplished since the Kral Zera will have been for nothing.  The universe has known more peace in the last two months than it did in the last two millennia. You would have to be a fool to throw all of that away.”

Shiro crossed his arms. “I would have to be a fool to rush into this without any other knowledge. How do we know this isn’t a trap? Can you even trust this-?”

“Captain Urvok,” Urvok said. “The Emperor gave me a field promotion.”

“Can you even trust Captain Urvok?”

“Keith trusts him, and I trust Keith.”

Shiro shook his head. “That might be, but I can’t afford to risk my team on this.” His jaw was set, and Lotor knew there was no point in trying to convince him to change his mind. 

He was short enough on time as it was. “Fine. I’ll rescue Keith myself if I have to. He spoke very highly of all of you, and I hope you will think highly of him, should he not come back from this.” 

He tucked Keith’s knife into his belt, climbed back into his Sincline, and left. 


	25. Dramatic Irony Continues To Be A Bitch; More At Eleven

Keith tugged at the restraints again, despite knowing that it would do no good. The magnetic handcuffs were stronger than he was, and unless he wanted to dislocate his thumbs -something he was not entirely sure he could do on purpose -there was no getting out of them. 

Not that there was a point to it. Sendak hadn’t thrown him in a cell. Instead, he had taken Keith to the bridge, to be displayed like some kind of trophy. 

In addition to the regular bridge crew, Sendak had posted extra guards, presumably to discourage Keith from trying anything. 

Keith might have been reckless -sometimes -but he wasn’t stupid. He knew he couldn’t fight through them all.

That’s why he’d sent Urvok away. By now, Urvok had surely gotten to the castle-ship, and they were no doubt making plans for his rescue. 

He’d prefer it if he didn’t have to be rescued, but some things couldn’t be helped. 

“Commander?” one of the bridge crew asked.

“What?” Sendak’s temper seemed shorter than usual. A side-effect of over a year in the cryopod? His distaste for having to work with the witch? Hard to tell. 

“We’re being hailed. It, uh… It’s Prince Lotor.” 

Keith fought to keep the surprise off his face. Lotor? But…

“Patch it through.” 

The crewperson did, and a second later, Lotor appeared on screen. 

He looked terrible, but anyone who didn’t know him wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. He slouched diffidently in the chair of his Sincline ship. “Sendak, a pleasure as always.” 

“Lotor. What do you want?” 

“I want nothing. I’m merely contacting you out of professional courtesy. By now, Voltron knows that you have one of their former paladins, and they are quite loyal, these humans. I suggest you let him go.”

Sendak laughed. “Let him go? Just like that? Have you been drinking?” 

Lotor smiled, all fang and no humor. “Unfortunately, no. You, on the other hand, seem quite sure that you can defeat Voltron, despite having lost once already, in a disaster that cost you your entire crew. The worst part of your failure is that they were just children then, Sendak. Two years later, and you think you can defeat them when one of their own is on the line? Would that I had half the confidence in my abilities that you have in yours; perhaps I would have killed my father millenia ago, and saved us all this mess.”

“What. Do. You Want.” Sendak ground out. 

Lotor shrugged. “Let my husband go, and I’ll take his place. Voltron won’t come after me, and the witch has been interested in me for some time now.”

“But what’s in it for you?” 

Keith had kind of been wondering the same thing. On the one hand, he didn’t want to believe Lotor would betray him. On the other, Lotor was quite protective of his own skin. 

“I have been thinking about what you said to me while we fought at the Kral Zera,” Lotor began. “But I think you won’t need to resort to keeping me as you slave, when I could choose to serve you. A strong commander like you, with me at your side? This rebellion would not last the year.” 

“I can’t become the emperor until the old one is dead.” 

Lotor shrugged again. “Accidents can be arranged. It would be best not to implicate yourself; I would not wish to risk Voltron’s vengeance.” 

Keith gritted his teeth. Lotor wasn’t looking at him; Keith wasn’t entirely sure Lotor could see him from where he was.

The words, though? They made sense. They sounded sincere.

Keith didn’t want to believe it. Had everything been a lie? Had Lotor actually been using him? 

A small movement drew Keith’s eyes to Lotor’s hand. He wore gloves, as always, so it was difficult to tell, but Keith thought…

Well, it looked like he was rubbing at the spot where his ring was. The ring Keith had given him, the night before their wedding. 

If it all meant nothing to Lotor, wouldn’t he have removed it as soon as Keith told him to get out? 

It all fell into place then. Lotor had a plan. Keith just had to trust him, and he did. He trusted Lotor. He only hoped his instincts were right. 

“There is still the matter of Haggar,” Sendak said. “And your former companions.” 

“Don’t worry about that, Sendak. I will handle it.” 

“Very well.” Sendak gave Lotor instructions for boarding, as if Lotor needed them, and then the screen went dark. 

“Nothing to say, Your Majesty?” Sendak asked with a mocking bow. “Not even to defend your honor? What kind of husband must you be, that yours feels the need to seek out better companionship?”

Keith did not have Lotor’s way with words, so he kept silent. He wouldn’t have to put up with this much longer. Lotor was going to do something -presumably involving Voltron, because he’d been right; Voltron wouldn’t just leave him here -and they were going to get out of this, and then-

Then, he’d apologize to Lotor, because he’d been kind of a dick, and maybe they’d talk about it, and everything would be alright again. There would probably be some make-up sex in there somewhere, and that would probably be pretty good, too, because Keith hadn’t gotten laid in a month. Lotor (hopefully) hadn’t either. 

But Keith really couldn’t let that last comment go. “If he wanted better companionship,” Keith said quietly, “he wouldn’t have come to you.” 

That earned him a blow across his mouth, but it was worth it. He grinned, bloody, up at Sendak. “That’s the best you can do?”

Maybe Sendak could have done better, except that, at that moment, Lotor was led into the bridge. “Commander. It would be best if you left your prisoner unharmed. The paladins’ sensibilities are different from ours.” 

In person, Lotor was as imperious as only the son of one emperor and the husband of another could be. He was shorter than everyone in the room, except Keith, but he still seemed to tower. Keith was going to have to ask him how he did that. 

“In fact, I believe I know more about human physiology than you do, Sendak. Let me examine him to ensure he will survive his journey back to Voltron.” 

Sendak crossed his arms. “He wasn’t harmed. Much.”

“Nevertheless.” 

Sendak hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. But be quick about it.” 

Lotor crouched down in front of Keith. He smiled, a small smile, but genuine. “I’m sorry,” he said in an undertone, so his voice wouldn’t carry.

“We’ll discuss that later,” Keith replied. “What’s the plan?” 

“This is the plan.” Lotor patted the outside of Keith’s legs, ostensibly to make sure his bones weren’t broken. Maybe. Keith didn’t know. “I just wanted to tell you that I meant what I said, that last night.”

“That’s a terrible plan. I’m not leaving without you. Voltron should be here soon, right? So let’s…”

Lotor shook his head. “I tried, Keith, I really did, but they aren’t coming.”

Keith’s mind went blank. “But-”

“It’s just us, so you should go. Don’t worry about me.” 

“Give me that,” Keith said, nodding to his knife in Lotor’s belt. “Can you get me out of these cuffs?” 

“Keith-”

“I’m not leaving without you,” Keith hissed. 

“Stubborn. Can you fight?”

“If you get me out of these cuffs.” 

“Alright,” Lotor said after a moment of study, “I have a plan. When I signal, get your hands above your head, as far apart as you can.”

“What’s the signal?”

Lotor tucked the knife up Keith’s sleeve. “You’ll know.”

It was at that moment that Sendak growled, “Well?” 

“I suppose you have left him in fair enough condition,” Lotor said smoothly, rising. He sauntered over to Sendak, so slowly that Keith felt his own impatience like a tangible thing. He said something to Sendak, low and sultry, and Keith was glad he couldn’t make out the words. Maybe he didn’t want to think about his feelings, but he knew that he didn’t like his husband flirting with someone else. 

For that was surely what Lotor was doing: flirting to get Sendak’s guard down, distract him, whatever. And it was working, a least a little, Keith thought.

Lotor laughed in response to something Sendak said -using his fake laugh -and casually, smoothly, unhooked a small blaster from a passing guard’s belt, then brought it up in one motion.

Keith got his arms up, and Lotor managed to shoot directly at the force-field between the cuffs. 

The shot left Keith’s hands tingly, but the energy of the blast must have disrupted the magnetic field, or short-circuited the cuffs, or something. Pidge would know, but she wasn’t here, and Keith didn’t care. 

Lotor had his sword unsheathed just as Keith activated his blade. 

Across the room, their eyes locked, and they nodded -acknowledgement of something connecting them, deeper than the ties of marriage, and then the fight began.


	26. Worth Dying For (?)

Keith fought like a wildfire, unpredictable and impossible to control, Lotor thought. He relied on his instincts more than anything else, and it had served him well so far.

Sendak’s prosthetic was rendered almost useless in the confined space of the ship, unless he wanted to risk damaging the hull of the thing. That would kill them all, Druid enhancements or no. That forced him to fight with a sword, or not fight at all.

Still, it was only him and Keith -that part felt right, but there were too many, and the enclosed space hindered Lotor, too. His fighting technique required space for him to maneuver around his larger, less mobile opponents. 

But he would fight until Keith was safe, or until he couldn’t fight anymore. 

And these were not Sendak’s elite soldiers, trained to his exacting standards, as Lotor himself had once been. These were the rabble of the Empire, those who had joined Haggar after Keith became Emperor, simply because they wouldn’t bow to a half-breed. 

And no, they wouldn’t bow now, Lotor thought darkly, as he cut them down, but they would be prostrate before their emperor. 

Lotor had been backed into a corner, but he cut down the last of the ordinary soldiers, and stepped away, only to be engaged by Sendak.

Sendak was smiling, which Lotor knew meant pain, but he was inured to that. And this would be the last time he’d face it, one way or the other. 

Lotor returned Sendak’s smile, but he knew his grin was bloody -he could taste it, acid-sweet.

“Have you waited long for this moment, Sendak?” He asked. “For someone to put you down like the rabid animal you are?”

He dodged, right as Sendak aimed a blow at him, but the battle was beginning to wear at his stamina, and Sendak had not been fighting, just waiting for Lotor to wear himself out, so he could move in and deliver the killing blow.

“Even making you my slave would be too merciful,” Sendak hissed. “It’s good that Zarkon is dead; you bring only shame to him and his memory. He won’t have to witness what I will do to you.”

“Something unimaginative, I’m sure,” Lotor said, confidence in his voice, but he knew he couldn't hold Sendak off much longer. His mixed blood gave him more stamina and strength that the average Galra, but Sendak had accounted for that, waiting until the very end. It was just a matter of time.

Was Keith safe? That was the important part. It no longer mattered what happened to Lotor, as long as Keith was safe. 

Ten thousand years, and he’d never found a cause worth dying for, until today. 

He had to end this, even if it killed him. Just so long as Sendak couldn’t hurt Keith. 

He deliberately left himself open, knowing that Sendak would take the bait; he wouldn’t be able to resist.

Sendak’s sword slid cleanly through his abdomen. There was brief, searing pain, and then blessed numbness. 

He smiled, knowing that more blood trickled from the corners of his mouth, as he slid his own sword up and up and up, hearing Sendak gasp and shudder as the blade went through his heart, as Lotor pulled him closer, a mockery of a lover’s embrace. “Couldn't anticipate that, could you?” He asked rhetorically. 

Sendak, of course, didn’t answer. 

Lotor sank to his knees, then collapsed against the wall behind him. The sword was still buried in him, and that was for the best. Removing it would only make him bleed out faster, and he had things he wanted to tell Keith. 

He knew he was dying; he’d seen a lot of battlefield injuries over the years, and unless the hand of some god intervened, this one was fatal.

Keith finished his own battle, and silence reigned on the bridge. 

It was in lockdown, so no one could get in or out. It was just a matter of time before whatever officers were left broke through, but they had a few minutes. 

Keith, covered in pink-violet blood that wasn’t his, stood tall and turned, savage delight morphing into heartbreak before Lotor’s very eyes.

Keith rushed over to him, heedless of the bodies strewn across the floor. Pooling blood made the floor sticky, but Keith didn’t care; he knelt at Lotor’s side.

“Are you alright?” Lotor asked, looking Keith up and down, searching for the telltale crimson of Keith’s blood. There was none, or at least, not enough to show through the violet gore that covered him.

“Lotor,” Keith breathed. “How can you-?”

“Hush,” Lotor said. He was aware, now, that his remaining time was short; he could no longer feel much of anything, except cold and tired. “You have to go.”

“No!”

“You must. The Empire needs you, Keith, beloved. There’s nothing now that you can do for me.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Keith said, stubborn as ever, tears beginning to streak down his cheeks, like shooting stars. “You’re going to be fine.”

Lotor would have laughed, but it was such an effort now, to even speak, and he must save his strength, because there were things he needed to say, even if Keith didn’t want to hear them. “I love you,” he said. “I love you, Keith. If yours is the last face I ever see, then I will be glad.”

“No,” Keith denied. “It won’t be. You’re going to be fine. I’ll get you out of here-“

“There’s no time for that.” Lotor doubled over, as far as he could with Sendak’s sword still in him, and coughed wetly. “Please, Keith, don’t let this be for nothing.”

It’s not,” Keith said, leaning in to rest his forehead against Lotor’s. “It’s not.”

With great effort- his entire body felt like it was light years away -Lotor brought a hand up to cup the back of Keith’s neck, perhaps the last bit of comfort he could give Keith. 

“I love you,” he whispered again.

“I love you, too,” Keith whispered back, like he was afraid, like it hurt, and maybe it did.

“I wish we had more time,” Lotor said. “There are so many things I wanted to share with you.”

“We’ll have time,” Keith said.

“Perhaps in another life. Perhaps our souls will be drawn together once again. Perhaps we are happy in another reality.”

“Don’t leave me,” Keith whispered, brokenly.

Lotor’s vision had started spotting, graying at the edges. Every breath was a struggle. He just needed a little more time. Just a little more. Ten thousands years of life had led to this moment, and he just wanted a little more… 

And then Keith was turning, having heard something, perhaps, and Lotor recognized the sound of rifle-fire, but he couldn’t-

It was so hard to think-

-Why was it important?

And then Keith’s voice: “Just a few minutes. Just stay with me for a few more minutes. Please-“

And then? Nothing.


	27. Just Another Tuesday I Guess

Taking on entire Galra battlecruiser by himself would have once seemed impossible, but now it was just Lance’s average Tuesday.

Well, maybe not quite, but, he was a lot less freaked out about it than he would have been two years ago. 

Helping Keith drag/carry Lotor back to the Blue Lion was, in all honesty, the hard part, since it wasn’t like Lotor could help. 

Lance might have tried to lighten the mood- Sendak was dead, after all, and that had to be a cause for celebration -except that Keith was pale and shaken, barely able to look away from Lotor.

Lance had been right, when he told Lotor that Keith looked at him like he’d hung the stars in the sky. 

So Lance kept his mouth shut; there was a time and place for jokes, and this wasn’t it. 

He’d just gotten the Blue Lion away from the cruiser when a wormhole opened in front of him, and he braced himself.

“Get back to the castle now,” Shiro said over the comms. 

As if Lance could do anything else; Lotor would die soon, if he hadn’t already, without a healing pod. 

As soon as he was through the wormhole and safely back in the castle, he helped Keith get Lotor out of Blue.

Lance would have to clean Blue later; there was a small puddle of pinkish-purple blood pooled in the back. Was it a good thing that it wasn’t a lot of blood? It meant he hadn’t bled a lot, sure, but what if that was because he didn’t have a lot of blood left to bleed?

Everyone was waiting for them in the hangar; Keith ignored them all.

“Lance!” 

“Shiro, can this wait?” 

Shiro crossed his arms. “No, it cannot. Hunk, help Keith and Coran.”

They all must have come a long way in two years, because Hunk only looked slightly green as he traded places with Lance. 

Lance straightened up as best he could, squaring his shoulders and his jaw, before turning to face Shiro.

“You disobeyed my direct orders,” Shiro said sternly.

“I didn’t do anything Keith wouldn't have done for us.”

“And if we had lost you? If we had lost the Blue Lion?”

“Well, you didn’t, and  if I hadn’t showed up when I did, Lotor would be dead.”

“He might still die.”

“Maybe,” Lance admitted. “But Keith’s the kind of guy who’d do anything for the people he cares about. What do you think would have happened if Lotor had died, and none of us were there?”

“What are you implying, Lance?”

Lance threw his hands up. “I don’t know! But I did the right thing, and there is nothing you can say or do to convince me otherwise. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” 

“It was not your call to make.”

“You made a bad call!” 

Shiro’s eyes hardened. “Go to your room, Lance.”

“Are you  _ grounding _ me?” 

“You won’t be flying any missions with Voltron until further notice. In the meantime, you are confined to quarters. Someone will bring you your meals.  _ Now go _ .” 

Lance did. It was unfair, but what could he do? He wasn’t about to apologize; he’d done nothing wrong. 


	28. Trophy Husband

Keith couldn’t take his eyes off the cryopod, even if there was nothing to do, nothing to see.

He ate, sometimes, when Hunk brought him food. He slept when he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore, but his sleep was plagued with nightmares - _ his own sword, slowing plunging into Lotor’s chest, his hand on the hilt and there is nothing he can do to stop it, and Lotor doesn’t even try to stop him  _ -that left him more exhausted when he woke. 

He was only dimly aware of the passage of time. Sometimes, he received messages from this commander or that general, and a distant part of him, a part that wasn’t touched with this draining grief, would answer.

The Empire didn’t stop for this, didn’t stop for anything. 

Pidge stopped by once, handing him a datastick. “It’s all I could find about your mom,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

None of it seemed real. 

The only real thing was the cryopod, with its display in Altean script that Keith couldn’t read. The only thing he knew for certain was that Lotor was alive. For now. He’d been warned that there might be nothing the pod could do, that it might have been too late, that Lotor had lost too much blood, that his brain had gone too long without oxygen, that the damage was too great, that-

It couldn’t end like this, Keith thought, stubbornly. Why did everything good that came to him get taken away again? It wasn’t fair. 

The soft tone of the cryopod startled him. 

It had been ...two weeks? And he’d almost given up hope, almost accepted that there was nothing anyone could do.

But now, the cryopod had started its thawing sequence, preparing to open. Meaning-

Meaning Lotor would be ok. 

He caught Lotor right as the pod’s covering opened.

Lotor shook his head, dazed. “Keith?” He asked, his voice hoarse from disuse. 

“Yes,” Keith replied. He helped Lotor to sit down on the couch. “How do you feel?”

“What happened?” Lotor asked. “Are we on the castle-ship?”

“Lance showed up, right in time, and we got you back to the castle and in a cryopod. It’s been two weeks.”

“No wonder I’m hungry,” Lotor said, and Keith handed him the tray Hunk had brought earlier. He hadn’t felt like eating then, and had left it untouched.

Lotor ate -inhaled -the food.

“I meant what I said,” Keith said finally. “I do love you. I didn’t just say it because you were dying.”

“I know,” Lotor said. “And as soon as I brush my teeth, I’m going to kiss you.” He kissed Keith anyway, on the cheek, and Keith was loathe to let him go, but two weeks’ worth of morning breath was not appealing. 

* * *

 

Keith took him to his own room, from when he was a paladin.

Lotor sniffed. “This is how the princess honors the paladins of Voltron?”

And sure, the room was small -it seemed even smaller now, after the luxury of the Imperial Suite -but there was no reason for Lotor to be so snobbish about it.

And Keith almost told him that, except he felt like his heart would burst with sheer happiness now that Lotor was alive and right next to him. 

Lotor made good on his promise, kissing Keith senseless as soon as he came out of the bathroom after he’d brushed his teeth. 

Keith kissed back -god, he’d forgotten what this was like; he was an idiot for making Lotor leave -but finally pushed Lotor gently away. 

“We should talk,” he said, though he could feel the heat of his own blush, and he did not want to talk; he wanted everything he’d missed in the last month and a half. 

The statement made fear flash across Lotor’s face, but he merely said, “As you wish.”

Keith sat on the edge of the bed -his bed, once, but he couldn’t remember it being this hard -and patted the spot next to him. 

Lotor sat warily, and it was clear he expected the worst. 

“I love you,” Keith began. “I do. I really do.”

“But?” Lotor asked. 

“I’m afraid. I’m afraid that you will use it against me, or someone else will, or you’ll leave or die or- And I don’t think I can take someone else leaving me.”

Lotor frowned, but it was contemplative, not angry. “What have I done to make you think I would -or even could -use you that way? Keith, I love you. I left because I love you, because you made me go and I would have done anything to make you happy.” 

“I know, I know,” Keith sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“There is nothing to be sorry for,” Lotor said quietly. “I understand. Maybe, if it had happened the other way, and you confessed first, I would have run all the same.”

“I’ve never felt like this before, and it scares me,” Keith admitted. “I need you like I need air. I can't imagine what would have happened if you had died, and I don’t want to. But the fear that you will use me… That’s real, too.”

“I told you once that no one could control you. It would be easier to extinguish a star, I think, or hold back the tides… I meant that, too. I gave you my word I would not manipulate you; what else can I give you?”

No one else, Keith thought, would ever get to see this side of Lotor; this was what love meant to him, being able to share his vulnerabilities, his true thoughts, and yet be safe in the knowledge that Keith wouldn’t hurt him. Couldn’t hurt him. 

“It’s not about what you can give me,” Keith said finally. “It’s about what I can give you.” 

He told him, haltingly, of the conversations he’d had with the Archivist in the last two weeks, plans he’d made without knowing if it was even worth it. 

Lotor did not interrupt, only watched Keith, his eyes widening slowly. 

“So, will you do it?” Keith asked finally. 

Lotor kissed him in response, like Keith was the air he desperately needed.

“That’s a yes, I take it,” Keith said, when Lotor let him go again, a smile dancing across his lips. 

“Yes,” Lotor said. “If you are sure. I am happy as I am; I hope you don’t think you need to do this to make me happy.”

“I believe you are content to merely be Prince-Consort, but you and I both know you will never be satisfied until you sit on a throne in your own right. And then we can truly rule as equals, in title and power and everything else.” And then Keith grinned. “Besides, it’s a lot of responsibility, and I could use the help.”

“I love you,” Lotor said.

“I love you, too,” Keith said. “Let me see your scar?” 

Lotor hummed an assent, and let Keith unzip the white bodysuit , so that it was down around his waist. 

The scar left from Sendak’s sword was an angry magenta color, though it had healed cleanly, leaving only a raised line. 

“Does it hurt?” Keith asked, running one gentle finger over it. 

“No, not really.”

“And it goes all the way through?”

Lotor nodded. “I hope you kept Sendak’s sword; I wanted it as a trophy.”

Keith laughed; something about the statement seemed absurd to him, though he didn’t know why. “It’s probably still in the cryopod room. Lie back for me?”

Lotor raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure this bed is large enough for what you might have planned.” 

“I’ll make it work. Will you let me do something for you?” 

“I’d let you do just about anything to me,” Lotor said, achingly honest.

“Just about?” Keith teased, and he worked the rest of the bodysuit off. 

“I’m not a fan of restraints, and I’d rather you didn’t hit me.”

“I’d ask first,” Keith said, “and if you didn’t  want to, I wouldn’t make you.”

“I wish I could have found someone as kind and considerate as you when I was younger,” Lotor murmured, stroking one thumb across Keith’s cheek. “So, will I like your little surprise?”

“I hope so. I’ve never done this before, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot since you suggested it, and I want to do something nice for you, so…” He nudged Lotor’s legs apart, so he could kneel between them; Lotor let them fall open easily, his eyes watching avidly. 

Keith pressed a kiss to Lotor’s new scar, then another to the area just below his navel. Keith heard Lotor’s breath hitch, like maybe he’d figured out what Keith was up to. 

He nipped sharply at the crest of one hip and let his hands wander, over and between Lotor’s thighs, around to his ass, up to his hips.

Keith heard Lotor’s claws rip at the sheets, like he was trying to keep from touching. Keith lifted his head and grinned. “You can pull my hair.”

Lotor’s eyes went impossibly dark at that, but he kept his hands where they were. 

Which was fine; the offer was still open. Keith bit at the soft skin of Lotor’s inner thigh the way Lotor liked to bite at his throat; it wouldn’t bruise, as such, but he thought the teeth marks might remain for a day or two. 

And finally, Lotor tentatively reached out with one hand, tangling it in Keith’s hair, pulling his head where Lotor certainly wanted it most. 

Keith moaned at the feeling of claws scratching against his scalp. He’d definitely missed that, too. 

While Keith had not seen many cocks -in real life, anyway -he was aware that Lotor’s was longer than the average human’s. Not much thicker, though, Keith thought, and it wasn’t rounded at the end; it was tapered instead. 

And, of course, it had those delightful ridges. 

Keith licked a stripe up the underside of Lotor’s cock, which had Lotor panting, his grip in Keith's hair tightening. 

_ So sensitive _ . 

There was no way he was going to fit all of it in his mouth, Keith was sure, but he did like the way Lotor was falling apart from just Keith’s tongue on those terribly sensitive ridges. He could, probably, cum from just this, Keith decided, but that was an experiment for another day. 

He took the tip of Lotor’s cock into his mouth, and Lotor desperately tried not to thrust up into Keith’s mouth, which Keith appreciated. He used on hand to pin Lotor’s hips to the bed, and used the other to stroke the parts of Lotor’s cock he couldn’t get into his mouth. 

Once he had a rhythm established, it didn’t take long for Lotor to cum, and it seemed to surprise Lotor as much as it did Keith, but Keith worked him through it, until Lotor whined from oversensitivity. 

Galra cum, apparently, did not really taste like much of anything, and it was less viscous than his own cum, which made it easy to swallow. 

Lotor still watched him through half-closed eyes. 

“How was that?” Keith asked, flopping next to Lotor.

It took a few tries for Lotor to remember how to speak. “Pretty good, even if, admi -admittedly I have nothing to compare it to.”

“No?”

“Before I met you, beloved, sex was only very rarely about  _ my _ pleasure.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve slept with a lot of douchebags, I guess. But it means that no one else has seen you like this.” And Lotor looked incredible like this: relaxed and sleepy and sated, limbs sprawled luxuriously, a tiny smile on his lips. The only thing that would have made it better was if Lotor could blush, but this was good -great, even -as it was, and Keith wouldn’t change anything. “But it was ok? I was kind of worried about keeping my teeth out of the way.”

“Your blunt little human teeth?” Lotor asked. “I wouldn’t have felt them. Or, if I had, perhaps they would have enhanced the experience.” 

If blowing Lotor hadn’t turned Keith on, this certainly did. Also, it made him cringe a little -he did not want Lotor’s teeth on his dick; they were  _ sharp _ . But mostly it made him press closer to Lotor’s side, rutting against his hip. 

Lotor leaned over to kiss Keith. “Do you want me to help you with that?”

“Use your hand?” Keith suggested. 

Lotor nipped his bottom lip and slid his hand down into Keith’s pants to his cock.

He did not tease, just stroked firmly, demandingly, almost, and kissed Keith the whole time, swallowing every sound Keith made.

When Keith finished, Lotor brought his hand up and licked it clean, keeping eye-contact with Keith as he did so. 

If Keith hadn’t just cum, he probably would have gotten hard from that, and he told Lotor. Lotor laughed, and kissed him, slower than before, but no less passionately. 

“I love you,” Keith said, curling up next to Lotor. He was sleepy now, and the exhaustion of the past two weeks was catching up with him; he could barely keep his eyes open.

“Love you too,” Lotor murmured back, pulling Keith as close to him as possible. 

Keith fell asleep almost instantly, and, if he dreamed, he had nothing to fear from them.


	29. Late Night Snacking Can Be Dangerous

Lotor only slept a few hours; he’d spent the last two weeks sleeping, and now he was restless.

There was something he had to do, anyway.

Keith woke up partially as he left the bed. “Lotor?”

“Go back to sleep, beloved,” Lotor said. “I won’t be gone long.”

“Come back to me?” Keith asked. Demanded. It was hard to tell when Keith was only half-awake. 

“Always,” Lotor promised. 

Finding Allura was no hardship -she radiated energy like a sun -and he was glad she was alone and awake. 

“Princess,” he said formally, standing at the entrance of the observation deck. 

“Why are you here, Lotor?” She asked, wearily. 

It struck Lotor, once again, how young she was. One did not age while in stasis, so she may have been chronologically older, but she was young, terribly young, to fight in this war, barely past the age of her majority.

“I came to apologize,” he said. “I was rude to you. I said things I should not have said. So, for that, I am sorry.” 

“Have you ever looked at the stars?” She asked. “Just looked, and realized how small everything is? How small we all are?”

When he was a child, and the stars were his only refuge. But not since; he could not bare it, the expansiveness of it all, and he certainly had not needed the reminder that he was nothing, meant nothing, would amount to nothing. 

Even now, the specter of his father haunted him. 

“Yes,” he said simply. 

“Everything you said was true,” she said at last, “cruel as it may have been. But you were right. Altea is no more, just as Daibazaal is no more, and winning this war will not bring either back. There is no force that could, and I am, perhaps, one of the last of my kind. When I am gone, there will be no one left to remember Altea as it was. But there are still things we might to, to preserve the legacy of my father, and my people, and the Ancients.”

“What are you asking of me?” He asked, wary now. 

“Nothing at all. Instead, I wish to inform you that soon, the Paladins and I will make the journey to Oriande, so that I may find a way to defeat Haggar, using the secrets of Altean Alchemy.”

“You will be a great Alchemist,” Lotor replied, “like your father before you.” 

“You should join us,” she said. “Honerva was an accomplished alchemist -some would say even greater than my father - and you bear her blood. Oriande will open to you.” 

Once, that would have been exactly what he wished to hear; he would have leapt at the chance. That was why he’d spent so much time reading Honerva’s writings, after all, even if they did make him face truths he would rather not have known. 

But now… He shook his head. “I am bound by other things now,” he said. “My future does not lie in Oriande.” 

“Perhaps not yet,” she said. “But Oriande will be there, when the time has come for it.” 

“So it will be.” 

* * *

He made a quick detour through the castle’s kitchens -two weeks in a cryopod made him horrendously hungry -before starting back to Keith’s room. 

The way was dark, the lights dimmed for the sleep cycle, but he could see well enough, and, in fact, he preferred it. His eyes were adapted for the dark, and the lights, in their full brightness, gave him headaches. 

The ship was quiet, except for the hum of the engines. Lotor had always lived aboard ships, and he found the sound comforting.

He became aware, suddenly, of a presence nearby, and once that would have raised his hackles, but this was the Altean castle-ship, and there were only allies here. Not friends, but allies enough. 

He rounded a corner and saw Shiro striding urgently towards… 

Towards Keith’s room? It was quite late; he’d thought only he and Allura were awake still. 

He caught up to Shiro, intending him tell him to wait until morning; Keith was exhausted, and waking him in the middle of the night would only exacerbate the problem. 

Before he could say anything, he was pinned up against the wall by Shiro’s Galra-tech arm. His fingers closed around his throat, and Lotor could only grasp at Shiro’s wrist in a futile attempt to relieve the pressure on his windpipe. 

“Shiro?” He gasped.

It wasn’t Shiro behind those eyes. 

“If you know what’s good for you,” not-Shiro hissed, “you will leave the castle-ship now, and let me take care of business.”

His vision was starting to go gray at the edges, and it was difficult to even think like this. “What- what do you mean?”

Not-Shiro glanced significantly down the hallway, to Keith’s room, and it all fell into place.

“No,” Lotor wheezed. “I won’t let you.”

“Then you leave me no choice.” The grip on Lotor’s throat tightened, and he kicked and struggled as much as he could, but the Galra-tech arm was stronger than he was.

It couldn’t end like this, not after everything.

He tried to shout, but he didn’t have the breath for it, and he was rapidly running out of strength.

Something moved in his peripheral vision, but he dismissed it as something his oxygen-deprived brain had created. 

“Shiro!”

No, that was Lance. Lotor had never been so relieved to see him. 

“Shiro, what the fuck are you doing!”

Not-Shiro turned to face Lance, and his grip loosened just enough for Lotor to escape.

He fell to the floor in a heap, his legs too weak to support him, chest heaving. 

“Lance?” Shiro asked, sounding completely confused. 

“He was going to kill Keith,” Lotor wheezed. He hoped he didn’t have to go back into a cryopod for this. 

“Shiro?” Lance asked.

“I- I don’t remember,” Shiro said. “Lance, I don’t- What’s wrong with me?” No longer the brave leader, Shiro sounded more like what he was: a young man with too much responsibility and too many fears. 

Lance glanced between Shiro and Lotor. “I don’t know,” he said. “But- This is for the best, Shiro. I’m sorry.” 

Lance pulled the castle’s alarm. 


	30. Red Paladin, Black Paladin

Keith paced up and down. “Are you sure Haggar is behind this?” He asked again, for the third time. 

“Who else could it be?” Lotor asked. His flight suit was undone to the notch of his collarbones; there was no bruising, of course, but his voice was rough, like he had been a six-pack-a-day smoker for forty years. “Unless Shiro routinely tries to attack you in your sleep.”

“We will make sure he is comfortable until this has been resolved,” Allura reassured Keith.

“In the containment unit,” Keith said.

“We cannot risk another incident like this,” Allura said. 

“I agree,” Keith said, “but I don’t have to like it. After all Shiro’s done for me…”

“The sooner we kill Haggar, the better,” Lotor rasped. “That’s the only thing that could stop her.”

“You said it was too dangerous,” Keith reminded him.

“It is,” Lotor agreed. “But I know that there is nothing you wouldn’t do for Shiro. Any of you,” he said, glancing at Allura. 

“We will help you,” Allura promised. “We will soon leave for Oriande, and hopefully the secrets we uncover there will help us defeat her.”

“I wish there was more we could do now,” Keith said. He hated all this waiting. He wanted -needed -action.

“He’s alive,” Lotor said. “As long as that’s true, there’s hope.”

Keith nodded. 

“It is still early,” Allura said, “and we have all had about as much excitement as we can handle. I, for one, am going back to bed.” She left.

“A good idea,” Lotor said. 

“I don’t know if i can sleep,” Keith said. 

“You look exhausted, beloved,” Lotor said quietly. He did not -could not- show affection to Keith in front of anyone else, but they were alone now, so he gathered him in his arms and held him. 

“I am,” Keith admitted. 

“The flagship is not far; perhaps you would sleep better there.”

“I have to see this through,” Keith said.

“But you are also the Emperor, and you have an Empire to run,” Lotor reminded him gently. 

“Tomorrow,” Keith decided. 

“As you wish, beloved.”

* * *

 

 

The alarms woke Keith up later -hours later, he thought.

Lotor, who could probably sleep through just about anything, was still asleep. 

He debated going back to sleep -he was merely a guest on the castle-ship, not a paladin -before he remembered that there was no Black Paladin anymore. 

Shiro might still be alive, but they couldn't trust him with Voltron, not after...

It wasn’t fair, but that’s how it was. 

So Keith suited up, muscle-memory doing most of the work. It seemed like forever since he last worn this armor, but it had been less than a year since he went to the Blades full-time. 

There was a problem, as there always was.

When he reached the Black Lion’s hangar, she would not lower her particle barrier. 

He hadn't liked the responsibility of being the Black Paladin, but it had been his duty. 

Had he done such a bad job that she wouldn’t let him back?

“Please,” he said. “People are in danger.”

She was silent -her connection to him had been tenuous at best; he wasn’t the Paladin that Shiro was. Had been. 

“Please,” he said again. “I know I’m not Shiro, but-“

The hangar doors opened, and Lance rushed in. “Keith?”

“Lance?”

“Red won’t let me- She-“ 

The particle barrier fell as soon as Lance was next to Keith. 

“Consider this a promotion,” Keith said wryly. Relief flooded over him. He wasn’t Zarkon; he didn’t think it was a good idea to lead both the Empire and Voltron at the same time.  “The Lion chooses the Paladin.”

“But I can’t-“

“You can,” Keith said, “and I’ll be right at your side. We’re all with you.”

Lance nodded, shakily, still looking up at the imposing figure of the Black Lion. 

“You’ve got this, Sharpshooter,” Keith said, pushing Lance gently towards the Lion. 

* * *

There was one other thing Keith could try.

He stood in Red’s hangar now, near the walls.

Some part of him was afraid -would she accept him? What would he do if she didn’t? What if they needed Voltron?

But the alarms were still blaring, and he had to try.

So he stepped forward, and the barriers fell.

Almost without knowing how, he was seated in the pilot’s chair, and Red welcomed him back, as if nothing between them had changed, and for once, in all his life, Keith felt like he was suddenly right where he was meant to be. 


	31. Epilogue: A New Era

It may have been unprecedented, but Lotor -perhaps still possessed of some of his adolescent rebellion -did like to upset tradition.

And it was only unprecedented as far as emperors went; before Brodar the Unifier, in the time of the clans, several clan chiefs might rule at once, provided all the necessary rituals were observed. 

And speaking of necessary rituals…

An entire fleet acted as escort above Feyiv, in case Haggar should try and disrupt the ceremonies. He did not think she would; no one had seen her in months, not since Allura had faced the trials of Oriande. 

It did still rankle him that, when he asked, she merely smiled and said nothing; he would have to go, one day, when the time was right, and find out for himself. 

The pod that took them down to the surface was small; it did not need to hold many.

“What are you thinking?” Keith asked, at his side. 

“It has been a year since I was here last,” Lotor replied. 

“We decided this would be the best day for it,” Keith said. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“No,” Lotor said. “But everything has changed and, a year ago, I could not have imagined myself here.”

Keith laughed softly. “I don’t think I could have predicted this either. But I am glad to be here with you.”

Lotor pressed a kiss to Keith’s forehead. “As I am glad to be here with you.”

* * *

There were no crowds on Feyiv, by design. In truth, Lotor was already an emperor in power if not title, since Keith went away as often as Voltron needed him, so this was merely a ceremonial acknowledgement.

Blood must be spilled, of course: the gods demanded it. 

But it need not be much.

It was strange facing Keith like this, but he did have to prove that he was Keith’s equal, and the duel was only to the first blood.

It was not easily drawn -Keith made him fight for it, and that was a good thing; no one wanted a weak emperor -but, after some time, he managed it: a thin slash across Keith’s cheek, dripping with blood. 

It probably wouldn’t even scar, but he still felt the need to go and make sure Keith was alright. 

Keith laughed and pushed him away. “Go! Light the flame, My Emperor.”

Lotor grinned. 

He took his time lighting the torch and climbing the Stairs of Destiny. There was no rush; Keith would be there, and the Archivist, and the Kral Zera itself. 

They weren’t going anywhere.

When he set the torch to the Kral Zera, the flames flared brightly -supernova bright - and he realized that some part of him had wondered whether he’d be struck down by the hand of some god, for daring to profane this ancient practice. 

He’d wondered whether the flames would go out, an ill omen, or whether…

But it didn’t matter. None of those half-formed fears came to pass.

“The flame is lit! Bow before your Emperors!”

No, with Keith at his side… He finally felt at  _ peace _ . 

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on my fanfic side blog on tumblr, @devilsofficialfanfic. You can also find me @thedevilsofficialblog. (Brand recognition is important to me)


End file.
